Lake Titicaca

Positioned in the high Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia, Lake Titicaca is a thing of majesty, mystery, history and superlatives. For one, it is the most altitudinous navigable body of water on earth and the largest lake in South America by water volume. Then, there is the evidence of it being the cradle of pre Hispanic civilisations, and a sacred Inca site to boot. The colossal lake is also one of the last true places of Peruvian rusticity left, a land of leather-faced farmers and ramshackle homes of wattle and daub, flocculent llamas dressed for the sub-zero nights, and floating villages weaved from the reeds of the waters. Lake Titicaca tour guides are based all around the banks here, in towns like Puno from where they offer boating trips out to meet the curious inhabitants of the region, from the Uros peoples of the reed islands to the Taquile people, dressed in their trademark multi-coloured yarn tunics. Meanwhile, the island of Amantani comes with cascading terraces of wheat and maize farms, rising to a duo of mountain peaks capped by enthralling pre-Columbian ruins. Homestays and cultural visiting programs are on the rise here, the best of which are run by the indigenous lake peoples themselves.