| The Incas called Cuzco "the navel of the world" and the
lake Titikaka "The womb of Mankind" , lakeside dwellers of today regard
themselves as the "oldest people in the world" . The lake covers approximately
9000 km2 and like many things in Bolivia it takes another highest championship: it is the
world's highest navigable lake (12,500 feet) 3,820 meters, its depth was recently measured
at 457 Mt. Lake Titikaka has long been known to be not only the largest but also the most
sacred in the world. Near it many cultures and civilisations have risen. The Tiawanaku
culture began its raise around the time of Christ and lasted over a millennium , extending
far into Puno and Northern Chile. Tiawanaku ceremonial sites were constructed along the
shores of Lake Titikaka, indicating that the lake was considered sacred at least 2,000
years ago. The Incas believed they originated from the lake Titikaka and that their
bearded, white leader/deity Viracocha began his acts of creation on this island . Clearly
lake Titikaka played a dominant role in Andean beliefs for over two millennia. The best
known of Titikaka island are Taquile and Uros , the floating islands made of bulrushes, on
the Peruvian side of the lake and the islands of the Sun and of the Moon on the Bolivian
side. Bulrushes (totora) grow in the low waters of the lake , they have always been of
multiple use for the natives . The people from the Titikaka region weave this plant very
well to make rafts which seem to be made of woven glob fibre; they cut swiftly through the
waters of the great lake. Birds nests among the bulrushes , providing eggs for human
consumption , the matted plants serve as a foundation to built bulrush houses on. The most
important geographical features of Titikaka include the Copacabana peninsula which
contains remains of cultures dating back to long before the Spanish influence in South
America . |
A typical islander Aymara house
Mountain Gods are fundamental belief among Andean people
native shipbuilder
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