Surroundings

LAJA

The tiny village of Laja lies about midway between La Paz and Tiahuanacu. In 1548, the Spanish Captain Alonzo de Mendoza was charged with founding a city, a rest stop along the route from Potosí to the coast af Callao, Peru. This was the chosen location.

He then changed his mind and the site was shifted to where La Paz lies now.

TIAHUANACO

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia

The original port of Tiahuanacu was built on the shores of Lake Titicaca less then 600 feet away, but whose coastline now lies some 12 miles away.

Tiahuanaco, Bolivia

The city is believed by some to have been built by the Aymara - the Native South Americans inhabiting the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia as the capital of the Pre-Inca Civilization.

Some believe this is the oldest city in the world. Others believe it was built by an extraterrestrial race that also created the Nazca Lines.

Traditionally it is thought to have been built by the predecessors of the Inca Civilization over 2,000 years ago. It is a mysterious ruined city of extremely ancient origins.

TITICACA LAKE

Titicaca lake

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on earth at 12,580 feet altitude. Straddling the border between Peru and Bolivia, the Andean peoples refer to the lake as "The Sacred Lake” and legends say that the first Inca rose from its depths and went out to found the Inca Empire. Actually two lakes joined by the Strait of Tiquina, it sprawls over 3,500 square miles, fed by waters from the melting snows of the Andes.

At the time of the Spanish Conquest, one of the most important religious sites of the Inca Empire was located on the Island of the Sun. Titicaca was perceived by its ancient cultures to be an inland sea connected to the ocean, mother of all waters.

The lake contains enormous frogs, which they farm together with some trout. The herding of alpacas and llamas is also common. It is one of the few places in the world where balsas (reed boats) are still made, and here the craft is practised by the Uru indigenous people. The lake is also used for irrigation.

COPACABANA

The Copacabana penninsula is at an altitude of 3.800 meters above sea level 155 Kilometers away from La Paz on the shore of Lake Titicaca

This where tours to the town and into the lake start, visiting the Sanctuary of Copacabana (1588),  the Sun and the Moon Islands.

YUNGAS

To the north Lake Titicaca and the Cordilleras are the misty, jungle filled valleys and gorges known as the Yungas, which form a distinct natural division between the cold barren Altiplano and the rainforested Amazon lowlands of northern Bolivia.

The trip from La Cumbre (4600 meters over sea level) to the Yungas (between 1800 and 600 meters), offers an astonishing view and landscape.