Facts about Lake Titicaca in Bolivia

Most people who buy a ticket to Peru for adventure travel or a cheap vacation make sure their journey includes a trip to explore the mysteries of Lake Titicaca.

Pictured below are women from the Uros tribe who live around the lake.

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Lake Titicaca is said to be the highest navigable lake in the world (3,800 meters, 12,507 feet). For many tourists it provides the highlight of their adventure travel through Peru.

The Uros people rarely step on solid ground, living mostly on about 40 floating islands made from totora reeds which flourish in the shallows of the lake. These islands were built hundreds of years ago when the Uros took to the lake waters so they could escape their warring neighbours.

As the reeds at the bottom of the islands rot away, their inhabitants simply pile new reeds on top.

Thick mats of the reed form a ground upon which they can build reed boats (called "balsas"), houses and villages... floating islands upon which to live.

Lake Titicaca's altitude means the air is unusually clear and the azure waters particularly striking, providing a healthy resting point during your Peru adventure travel.

Puno is the major Peruvian port. The area is also known for its folk dances and huge herds of alpacas and llamas, as well as its traditional andean lifestyle - as pictured above.

Lake Titicaca is 200 kilometres (125 miles) long with a maximum width of 110 kilometers (69 miles), maximum depth of 280 meters (918 feet), and an area of 8,300 square kilometers (3,240 square miles).

The lake is on the border of Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east, in a 58,000 square kilometre basin between Andean mountain ranges, including some of the highest snow-topped peaks in South America

The lake is so large it forms its own waves.

It is a fresh-water lake fed by a number of rivers. Surplus lake waters are drained by the Desaguadero River into the shallow, brackish waters of Lake Poopo.

More than 25 rivers constantly pour water into Lake Titicaca but just 5% drains away at its southern end via the Desaguadero River, the rest evaporating under the fierce sun and strong, dry, high-altitude winds.

The temperature of Lake Titicaca is constant throughout the year at between 50 and 53.6F. Because of this, surrounding temperatures do not drop at night or in winter as much as elsewhere at similar altitudes.

Traditional food among the indigenous folk of Lake Titicaca is guinea pig, or hamster, served with potato. Alpaca is another common meat and most menus serve trucha, or trout. Staple crops grown in the Titicaca Basin are barley, the small grain quinoa, and potatoes - which have been cultivated in the region for about 8,000 years.

The water has an annual average temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, creating a moderate local climate that nurtures crops not normally grown at such altitudes.

These include potatoes, barley, quinoa wheat and maize (corn), and it's said they grow larger and more quickly than anywhere else on earth because of the combined climatic and mystical attributes of the region.

Lake Titicaca has been one of the central areas of human settlement in South America since prehistoric times, as evidenced by the remains found at Tiahuanaco near the southeastern end of the lake.

These indicate the oldest civilizations in the Americas once lived here.

The first Spanish invaders who travelled to Lake Titicaca reported it to be one of the most densely populated areas in South America.

Many of the lake islands nowadays have electricity powered by small solar panels.

Fishing was once the mainstay of the Uros people, although this has largely been replaced by tourism - particularly near the port town of Puno.

Beautiful jewellery, pottery, paintings and other handcrafts are traded enthusiastically. Travellers to Lake Titicaca can pick up some bargains and this can be a highlight of your adventure travel in Peru, further cutting costs to ensure a cheap vacation.

Rheumatic ailments plague most island inhabitants because of the damp atmosphere and few opportunities for exercise.

However, the 4000 or so people who live on Amantani Island - a few kilometres off the Peruvian coast - live long, healthy lives because the island rises 300m from the surface of Lake Titicaca and the inhabitants must always be exercising to get around in an altitude close to 4000m above sea level.

No policemen can be found on Amantani Island because there is no crime.

Travellers enjoying Peru adventure travel are advised to brush up on their Spanish as the Lake Titicaca locals speak little English.

The shores of Lake Titicaca are fairly heavily populated but the region is poor, tourism providing a staple income.

Hundreds of Aymara families still practice ancient agricultural methods on stepped terraces predating Inca times around the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Vessels make regular and fairly expensive daily crossings from Puno on the Peruvian shore (known as the folklore capital of the Americas) to the port of Guaqui in Bolivia, stopping during the trip at various of the lake's 41 islands.

The Uros and Aymara people are subsistence farmers with little income and they have a fairly "hard sell" approach to tourists admiring their handicrafts, often expecting money before a picture can be taken.

The Uros people live on the shores and surrounding high plateau of Lake Titicaca.

The Uros speak the ancient language of Aymara and all have Aymara or Quechua blood.

The Aymara and Quechua people populated the two major nations of Peru before they were defeated by the expanding Inca Empire in the 15th Century and eventually by the Spanish invaders of South America.

The Uros have long suffered at the hands of the Incan, Spanish and Peruvian governments and are one of the poorest people in the region.

Women nowadays mostly make a living by weaving and selling colourful fabrics which they sell at a low price to tourists.

If you travel to Lake Titicaca for holiday travel during summer, be warned that the harsh Andes sun can burn. The lake is bitterly cold and full of unpleasant microbes that can punish any tourist who explores the water or drinks it.

If staying in Puno, it's well worth visiting the monolithic Sillustani funeral towers about 35 kilometres out of town. The 12 metre cylindrical turrets overlook a lake and surrounding desolate landscape. Their age is unknown and it's a mystery how these huge stones were hauled up hillsides and carved precisely many centuries ago.

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