The infamous lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a place everybody has heard of, though maybe not as many people could locate it on a map. Located then just at the border between Peru and Bolivia, this majestic site is considered the world's largest high-altitude lake, covering 8400 square km and at an altitude of 3808m. The lake is also supposedly the legendary Inca creation site, with the Isla del Sol on the Bolivian side, the birthplace of the Sun in the Inca mythology.

I would have wished to cross the border and arrive a few days earlier in Copacabana, in Bolivia, but a strike in Puno (Peru) prevented me to do so for a few days as the only road leading to Bolivia was blocked. Apparently the Peruvian miners were contesting new laws introduced by the government against illegal mining. Fortunately the strike stopped for the weekend and buses were allowed to go through and this is how I ended up spending one night in Puno, then crossing the border and reaching Copacabana the following day.

Because Bolivia doesn't have access to the ocean, Copacabana, located a few hours away from the capital La Paz, is the prime destination for Bolivianos who come here to enjoy the fantastic views of the lake and get some tan (or sunburns as the combination of the lake's sun reflection and the altitude doesn't forgive...).

And on the lake, two hours away by boat, lies the Islas del Sol and de la Luna, where as I already said the Inca mythology comes from. It was here that the bearded white god Viracocha and the first Incas, Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo, made their mystical appearances. The Isla del Sol is actually quite small as within a few hours you can cross it from north to south but landscape is nice and the villages there have a few hostels, hence my decision to spend a night on the island, which actually allowed me to catch up totally by luck with friends I had met a few weeks ago... The world is small and the tourist trail often the same...

The inca path linked the south and north parts of the island

El Jaguar...

Rémi and Edu snapping....