Lake Titicaca, Copacabana and the Sun Island

Lake Titicaca – 3810 m

The Royal Mountain range behind the Lake Titicaca (© Llama Trek 2005)

Who doesn’t dream since child about the Lake Titicaca resembling a sea dressed with its most beautiful colors on September or October?
People say that there were lots of Inca gold and silver hidden from the Spanish conquerors on the bottom of this lake.
Copacabana town is situated on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, its name means “lake view” it seems looking for the lake and its treasures helped by the Virgin Mary of Copacabana, the patron saint of the town and of Bolivia. It is from there that the boat sails to the Isla del Sol, one of the ancient Inca’s shrines surrounded by legends and mystery. Tradition says that it is the birthplace of the first Incas Manco Kapac and Mama Okllo.

Bolivia 

Native dances festival in La Paz (© Llama Trek 2005)

Bolivia, formerly the High Peru, was the cradle of the Tiahuanaco civilization. Then the supreme chief of the Incas, Manco Capac added it into the Inca Empire. Conquered by Pizarro, it passed under Spanish domination in 1538. It owes its name to Simón Bolívar that in 1825 became the first president of the Republic of Bolivia. The first indigenous president, Evo Morales, an Aymara, have been elected lately in December 2005.

Bolivia nicknamed as the 'South America’s heart' is a big country. It has a 1.098.581 km2 surface. Its population nearly reaches 9 millions of inhabitants. Limited by the Andes Mountain Range at the west, and the Amazonía at the East, it doesn't have any access to the sea. It lost the half of its territory during numerous wars against its neighbors.

It has a common border to the north and to the East with Brazil, to the west with Peru and Chile and to the south with Argentina and Paraguay. It is crossed by two mountain chains:  the Eastern Mountain Range (segmented mainly in the Apolobamba Mountain Range, the Royal Mountain Range and the Quimsa Cruz Mountain Range) and the Western Mountain Range (composed by the Western Mountain Range and the Lípez Mountain Range.)