Lake Titicaca
A high inland sea on the Bolivian–Peruvian border, 3,812 metres up, with the pilgrimage town of Copacabana on its shore and the Inca islands of the Sun and the Moon offshore.
- Arrival
- La Paz El Alto · LPB
- To the lake
- About 3½ hours by road from La Paz to Copacabana
- Private jets
- LPB: open 24 hours, customs, fuel
- Best time
- May to October
The city
Islands of the Sun and the Moon.
Titicaca spreads over 8,372 square kilometres, split between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east, and pinched at the Strait of Tiquina to a channel 800 metres wide. On the Bolivian side the road from La Paz crosses that strait by launch and barge, then runs on to Copacabana, a town of pilgrims gathered round the basilica of its Virgin.
From Copacabana boats leave in the morning for the islands of the Sun and the Moon, with ruins from Tiwanaku and Inca times. Days at this height are bright but cool, seldom above 16 °C; from May to October hardly any rain falls, while December to March bring the summer storms.
- Isla del Sol More than 180 ruins, most of them Inca, reached by the morning boats from Copacabana.
- Isla de la Luna East of the Sun, with ruins said to be an Inca house of chosen women, and a temple built by the Tiwanaku centuries before.
- Copacabana basilica The seventeenth-century shrine of a Virgin carved in 1582, crowded with dancers on 2 February and 6 August.
Arriving
Landing at 4,061 metres.
On the Bolivian side the gateway is El Alto, whose 4,000-metre runway sits at 4,061 m on the plateau above La Paz. The rest is road: some three and a half hours to Copacabana, with a crossing of the Tiquina strait on the way.
- Lima 1 h 35
- Santiago 2 h 50
- Buenos Aires 3 h 20
- Johannesburg 13 h 05 long-range jet
- Rome 13 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
May to October.
At 3,800 metres the thermometer stays between 14 and 16 °C by day all year, so the calendar is set by the rain. From May to October the lake sees 35 mm a month or less, and in June and July almost none; from December to March storms bring well over 100 mm.
- 14° J 159
- 14° F 158
- 15° M 133
- 15° A 38
- 14° M 15
- 14° J 2
- 14° J 3
- 14° A 7
- 15° S 28
- 16° O 35
- 16° N 54
- 15° D 119
Elsewhere in Bolivia
More reasons to come.
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