Stock Photo - Apr 18, 1956 - Lake Titicaca, South America - Lake Titicaca is between Bolivia and Peru, 12,300 feet up in the Andes of South America. It is over 100 miles long and 60 wide and though almost like an inland sea, the water is fresh and comes from many small rivers flowing from the surrounding mountainside. Just one river flows out of the Lake and it disappears in to the semi unknown high deserts of Bolivia. The people who live around the lake are mainly Aymara Indians, the survivors of an an ancient civilization that lived in the region long before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived, and who never succumbed totally to the dominating armies of the Incas. Today, the Aymara are farmers or fishermen; they speak native languages and dress in a colorful manner, wearing bowler hats on occasion. Some of the natives are excellent boat builders and by using the tall reeds from the lake they construct simple dinghies. Their homes are also made from reeds. Some keep pigs and chicken and live the life of farm islanders. The way-of life they have adopted is one of seclusion which began at a time when different groups of people in the region were at war, and some decided to seek refuge in the reeds. (Credit Image: © KEYSTONE Pictures/ZUMAPRESS.com)