Lake Titicaca, located between Bolivia and Peru at 3,800 meters above sea level, is the highest navigable lake in the world. 

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The tundra plain known as the altiplano extends to the south and was the site of Tiwanaku, the capital of one of the most important Andean cultures during the first millennium AD. The lake was also considered the center of the cosmos and the origin of the sun, the moon, the stars and humanity and, consequently, was one of the most sacred settlements of the Inca civilization. 

The area around the lake was first settled around the middle of the 2nd century BC. The earliest ceramic artifacts were found at Chiripa, on the southern shore. As in other later cultures, the llama, vicuña, and alpaca were a source of wool, transportation, and, if necessary, food. The lake provided fish and totora reeds that were used to make boats, roofs, and mats (a tradition that continues today). Potatoes, quinoa and coca were also grown (corn could not grow at the altitude of the altiplano) and metals such as gold, copper, and tin were extracted from the nearby mountains. However, the freezing climate and lack of trees were constraints on development, factors that would eventually require population movement to the warmer, more fertile south.

One of the civilizations that left the greatest mark around the lake was the Inca. Lake Titicaca became an important location with the rise of the Inca Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Incas were immediately attracted to the altiplano as a possible area of expansion, but it took them some time to conquer the Titicaca basin and its local cultures, the Lupaqa, Qolla and Ayaviris. The first expansion into the area occurred in the reign of Viracocha Inka in 1425 and then again under Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-1471). However, the decisive victory was at the Desaguadero River running from the lake on the south side, which finally secured Inca control and brought merciless reprisals on the local chiefs: their heads were displayed on poles and the skins of their bodies were used for drums. The Qolla leader was reportedly taken to Cuzco and, in a grand ceremony, beheaded for his troubles.

Today it continues to harbor an astonishing diversity of both human and wildlife settlements. Today its valleys are used to promote tourism and attract income to the inhabitants who reside in its meadows. Interestingly, Lake Titicaca is the only navigable water source in Bolivia, a country that is landlocked and therefore excluded from world navigation. 

But not all is good news for South America’s largest lake. Recently, alarm bells have been ringing because of the severe drought it is going through. Each year it is more intense to the point of endangering the entire biotic ecosystem. This is how a local journalist narrates it in a chronicle: Where before there was water, now there is cracked earth; where before the boats entered with ease to leave merchandise and people, now they juggle to avoid running aground; where before there was green and abundant vegetation typical of the area, now everything is yellow and dry.   

According to Peruvian authorities, last year the most affected part of the drought had dropped 60 centimeters in height from April to the last week of September and would have dropped about 90 centimeters in December. Another phenomenon affecting the lake is mining, both illegal and government-controlled, which often does not comply with approved regulations. 

The loss of water in the lake is a catastrophe. Given the altitude at which it is located, rainfall tends to be scarce, although the constant cold, formerly allowed the water does not evaporate, currently by the warming of the atmosphere is no longer the case. The waters withdraw more and more every day, with the usual tragic death of millions of microscopic beings that sustain the balance of flora and fauna. In this way, the inhabitants are affected, fishing volumes decrease, fish die or species that have lived there for millennia disappear. 

The governments that share the lake, Bolivia and Peru, recently held meetings at the highest level to implement a plan for the conservation and restoration of the lake’s biodiversity. Fortunately, recent reports from February of this year gave a glimmer of hope for the highest navigable blue spot on the planet. The rains returned and with them came life. 

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