In the last blog post (and first one of this long journey), I asked a question and gave a somewhat flippant answer. Okay, maybe I wasn't entirely honest about the motivation to visit Bolivia (because it's there!) - because there is a particular place that I've always wanted to see.
It's one of the more unusual names for a place, indeed it's a Lake, and like most things in Bolivia, it's at very high altitude.
In fact, I won't tell you the name until I tell you some things about it.
1. It's the highest lake in the world. There is no other valid body of water that high anywhere.
2. It covers over 3,280 square miles, nearly the size of Puerto Rico.
3. Half the lake is in Bolivia and half in Peru.
4. It's over 3 million years old and was formed by an earthquake that split the Andes Mountains.
5. The Inca people called it "the cradle of life"
You're gonna giggle when you hear the name -
It's pronounced like you might think. Titi: looks like and rhymes with a certain word similar to "kitty" ... and Caca: which sounds just like a Spanish word for poop.
In fact the name comes from two words: Titi is an ancient word for Puma or Jaguar - and caca means rock, or mountain. So the name roughly translated means Puma Mountain.
I have always been fascinated with the lake and always wanted to visit the place, which is the origination of the vast Incan Empire. It has floating islands. It is one of twenty ancient lakes on earth and is a UNESCO world heritage site.
We set out early from the capital of La Paz Bolivia, still suffering from the effects of the high altitude. It takes a while to get used to this. Most of the day was spent at 14,000 feet.
The bus ride was long and arduous. The roads were okay, but it's a long winding way over the mountains and there are a few unexpected things. For example: we had to cross a narrow stretch of land which where the lake runs between it. But there was no bridge.
So they unload all the passengers and we cross on a lightweight ferry, and then they send the bus over, also on a light weight ferry. The whole thing did not inspire confidence. We all loaded back on the bus and continued on our way.
We finally arrived at our destination, the wonderful town on the lake called Copacabana. It was a surprising delight. The day was sunny and a "warm" 54 degrees which is fairly nice for these regions. It's always pretty cold at 14,000 feet.
We toured the town before our upcoming boat ride and had a delicious lunch at an outdoor restaurant on the lake, of what they called trout, but turned out to be Salmon! And we toured a historic church built in 1548. It is such a remote place to have a 471 year old cathedral.
We then set out on a small launch on the lake on our way to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). It took about an hour to get there. The enormous lake is filled with spectacular views - and the island is filled with Inca ruins.
There was an option to hike a trail over the hills from our first boat stop to our second. I was the only one of the twenty three people on our boat to take that offer. Maybe everyone else had more sense. It's not easy at that elevation. Hey I'm a pretty fit dude, I've been running every day for most of my life. But more than once I bent over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
Several times, while hiking over the rocky hills, I passed Inca ruins. At couple times I just stopped and sat on a rock, gazing out as the vast inland body of water, soaking in the view (pardon the pun). It was amazing. It was one of those moments when you travel and you ultimately reach a destination and you sit and wonder, "wow, I can't believe I'm here ..."
I descended into the small unspoiled town village on the other side. It was remote and peaceful. The locals make a living mostly from fishing. The lakeside inhabitants build boats out of straw from the lakes edge. In fact they build large platforms that become larger and eventually, floating islands that they live on.
They also do a lot of knitting, using wool or Llama or Alpaca, like the one in the picture below.
The boat was there and Fiona was glad I showed up. We made our way back with fewer passengers, as some of the first batch stayed behind to backpack and camp. It was getting toward the end of the day by then, and the sunset was unforgettable.
One last moment of unusual circumstance. When we left the town of Copacabana on the bus, it was getting dark and there were several who had just arrived via transfer bus from Peru.
They had no idea of what the road was like and after some time we stopped and everybody had to get off the bus and take the ferry in a reverse of our outbound trip. They were confused but went along with the highly unusual process. It was almost funny but also rather frightening to see them load vehicles on the crude floating barges to cross the lake - in the dark.
Crazy stuff in amazing places. Now, if I could just catch my breath.
It's one of the more unusual names for a place, indeed it's a Lake, and like most things in Bolivia, it's at very high altitude.
In fact, I won't tell you the name until I tell you some things about it.
1. It's the highest lake in the world. There is no other valid body of water that high anywhere.
2. It covers over 3,280 square miles, nearly the size of Puerto Rico.
3. Half the lake is in Bolivia and half in Peru.
4. It's over 3 million years old and was formed by an earthquake that split the Andes Mountains.
5. The Inca people called it "the cradle of life"
You're gonna giggle when you hear the name -
Titicaca
It's pronounced like you might think. Titi: looks like and rhymes with a certain word similar to "kitty" ... and Caca: which sounds just like a Spanish word for poop.
In fact the name comes from two words: Titi is an ancient word for Puma or Jaguar - and caca means rock, or mountain. So the name roughly translated means Puma Mountain.
I have always been fascinated with the lake and always wanted to visit the place, which is the origination of the vast Incan Empire. It has floating islands. It is one of twenty ancient lakes on earth and is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Our Day on Titicaca
We set out early from the capital of La Paz Bolivia, still suffering from the effects of the high altitude. It takes a while to get used to this. Most of the day was spent at 14,000 feet.
The bus ride was long and arduous. The roads were okay, but it's a long winding way over the mountains and there are a few unexpected things. For example: we had to cross a narrow stretch of land which where the lake runs between it. But there was no bridge.
So they unload all the passengers and we cross on a lightweight ferry, and then they send the bus over, also on a light weight ferry. The whole thing did not inspire confidence. We all loaded back on the bus and continued on our way.
We finally arrived at our destination, the wonderful town on the lake called Copacabana. It was a surprising delight. The day was sunny and a "warm" 54 degrees which is fairly nice for these regions. It's always pretty cold at 14,000 feet.
We toured the town before our upcoming boat ride and had a delicious lunch at an outdoor restaurant on the lake, of what they called trout, but turned out to be Salmon! And we toured a historic church built in 1548. It is such a remote place to have a 471 year old cathedral.
We then set out on a small launch on the lake on our way to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). It took about an hour to get there. The enormous lake is filled with spectacular views - and the island is filled with Inca ruins.
There was an option to hike a trail over the hills from our first boat stop to our second. I was the only one of the twenty three people on our boat to take that offer. Maybe everyone else had more sense. It's not easy at that elevation. Hey I'm a pretty fit dude, I've been running every day for most of my life. But more than once I bent over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
Several times, while hiking over the rocky hills, I passed Inca ruins. At couple times I just stopped and sat on a rock, gazing out as the vast inland body of water, soaking in the view (pardon the pun). It was amazing. It was one of those moments when you travel and you ultimately reach a destination and you sit and wonder, "wow, I can't believe I'm here ..."
I descended into the small unspoiled town village on the other side. It was remote and peaceful. The locals make a living mostly from fishing. The lakeside inhabitants build boats out of straw from the lakes edge. In fact they build large platforms that become larger and eventually, floating islands that they live on.
They also do a lot of knitting, using wool or Llama or Alpaca, like the one in the picture below.
The boat was there and Fiona was glad I showed up. We made our way back with fewer passengers, as some of the first batch stayed behind to backpack and camp. It was getting toward the end of the day by then, and the sunset was unforgettable.
One last moment of unusual circumstance. When we left the town of Copacabana on the bus, it was getting dark and there were several who had just arrived via transfer bus from Peru.
They had no idea of what the road was like and after some time we stopped and everybody had to get off the bus and take the ferry in a reverse of our outbound trip. They were confused but went along with the highly unusual process. It was almost funny but also rather frightening to see them load vehicles on the crude floating barges to cross the lake - in the dark.
Crazy stuff in amazing places. Now, if I could just catch my breath.
I'm behind in reading up on your journeys--thoroughly enjoyed learning the historic tidbits; love the color of the pics. Patty
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