The Highest Navigable Lake in the World - Lake Titicaca

After spending several weeks in southern South America, it was time to head north to Bolivia and then Peru. We had originally planned to tour Salar de Uyuni, the famous salt flats where it is completely flat as far as the eyes can see, but since it's the wet season, we decided it would be best to hold off. We flew from Argentina through Chile and on to La Paz, Bolivia.

Awesome views from the highest point on Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca.

On a side note, many countries in South America charge a reciprocity fee for entering their country. This directly corresponds to the amount it cost their citizens to get visas in the U.S. Since we where flying through Chile and had one domestic flight, we were charged the $160 per person even though we didn't want a visa and never even left the airport....Complete bullshit. I even got the border agents to agree with me on this. While I know it stems from our own U.S. government charging outrageous amounts for foreign visas, it doesn't make it any more fair in our situation. Everyone traveling to South America (and some in Africa) should be aware of this, especially Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia. These can put a good size dent in a budget if not planned for.

Back on point. We arrived in La Paz and could immediately feel the effects of the high altitude off the plane. Even climbing a small flight of stairs can get you huffing and puffing, not to mention while carrying our packs. We only spent that first night in La Paz before catching a bus to Copacabana, a small town on Lake Titicaca, which is considered the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest in South America.

We arrived in Copacabana with expectations of seeing the Isla del Sol, an island on the lake where there are many ruins, the following day. Erin had a headache all day which turned worse that night. I quickly became a self-proclaimed expert on Altitude Sickness with the help of the Internet and a medical research paper. Her nausea, headache, and fatigue got better throughout the night so luckily a trip to the hospital never materialized.

Erin insisted she was okay to do some of the hiking on Isla del Sol the next morning so we took the 2 hour ferry to get there. We took it nice and easy on the hike to the ruins and had a successful day without many surprises. The ruins were surprisingly intact and there were plenty of great views along the way.

Ruins on Isla del Sol.

Terracing was everywhere. This was done so the steep slopes could be farmed.

The ruins were quite extensive on the island.

Despite the headache and fatigue, we managed to climb to the highest point for some awesome views.

We took a small minibus to Puno, Peru the following day, which is also on Lake Titicaca, and had enough time to visit the Yavari. It's the oldest ship on the lake and was brought by mule from the ocean in over 2700 pieces over 6 years before being completely assembled! We decided against visiting the famous reed islands on the lake because they have been turned into a huge tourist attraction. The Uros, the indigenous people who began living on the islands made of reeds long ago, no longer actually live this way and it is mainly a show for tourists. While some may go for this, several other travelers recommended against it.

The Yavari. The oldest boat on the lake, meant to be a gunboat, that was restored and is now a bed and breakfast.

A boat made of the same reeds the Uros make their islands out of on Lake Titicaca.

The area around the lake, although it is split by the border, is almost exactly the same. The same indigenous tribe is split almost half and half by the border and so they barely even recognize it. The people have a very unique style of dress which is nothing like the countries we have previously visited. The women's dress is the most striking, with colorful shawls and their dark long  hair put into two braids with tassles tied at the ends. They cap this off with a hat I can only describe as crosses between top hats and sun hats like that of the Kentucky Derby.

The unique dress of women in the region.

Being a civil engineer, it did somewhat irk me that many of the buildings in this region were unfinished and we couldn't figure out why. It took a conversation with another American who is living in Copacabana to explain that taxes are lower if a structure is unfinished. This causes many of the people to make their buildings appear unfinished so they can receive the lower tax rate. Therefore, you can walk down the block and see most of the buildings with rebar coming out of the top as if another floor was supposed to be built. This is kind of the opposite as in the U.S. where you only have a certain amount of time to complete the project before the building permit is rejected.

Here some construction workers are actually working on another portion of a building. Usually, many buildings have this rebar jutting out of the top to maintain the appearance that the building isn´t finished.

Now that we are finally about acclimated to the altitude here, it's time to leave for Arequipa (several thousand feet lower) and Peru's canyon country, which is home to the two deepest canyons in the world, Colca Canyon and Cotahuasi Canyon. We definitely enjoyed Bolivia and plan to return someday to see more cities and the Salar de Uyuni. It's a beautiful country and by far the least expensive we have visited thus far in South America.

(Written February 28th)