La Leyenda del Lago Titicaca

El gran lago Titicaca, de aguas dulces, el mas grande de Sudamerica, a cuatro mil metros de altura en el Altiplano, ubicado entre Bolivia y Peru, era para los Incas un lugar sagrado, pues creian que alli habian bajado los primeros hijos del Sol.

Cuenta la leyenda que en esa meseta estaba construida una gran ciudad, tan rica y poderosa, que sus pobladores se creian que todo el mundo debia mostrar sumision ante ellos.

Llegaron a ella un grupo de andrajosos indios a quienes despreciaron y pedian que se fueran. Estos indios andrajosos les profetizaron la destruccion de la ciudad a causa de terremotos, el agua y el fuego. Los probladores de la ciudad se burlaron de estas predicciones y los expulsaron a golpes. Sin embargo, los sacerdotes quedaron preocupados. Algunos hasta se fueron de la ciudad y se radicaron en el templo de la colina. La gente de la ciudad se burlo tambien de ellos. Llego un dia en que el cielo y la tierra se hallaron bañados por una luz roja que despedia una nube. Luego se escucho un relampago y un tremendo trueno, y la tierra se abrio. Quedaron edificios de piedra en pie, pero comenzo a caer una llubia roja la tierra volvio a abrirse y uno a uno fueron cayendo las fuertes construcciones, los canales de riego se destruyeron, los rios se desbordaron e inundaron lo poco que quedaba de la ciudad cuyos habitantes eran tan arrogantes y orgullosos. Las aguas cubrieron todo, y desde ese momento se formo un gran lago sobre lo que fue la admirada y jactanciosa ciudad.

Asi se formo el Lago Titicaca. Solo se salvaron los sacerdotes, pues ni el terremoto ni las aguas pudieron arrasar el Templo de la Colina, y quedo ese lugar como una isla, que hoy se llama Isla del Sol. Tambien se salvaron los indios harapientos que observaron preocupados, desde un lugar alto, la gran destruccion de la bella ciudad. De ellos nacieron los callawayas, que viven en el Altiplano y son los curanderos de grandes de habilidades.

Lying at the northern edge of the Altiplano, beneath the snowy peaks of the Cordillera Real, Lake Titicaca is sacred to many cultures.

It is South America's largest lake : 230 km long and 97 km wide. It is also the world's highest navigable lake at an elevation of 3820 m. It straddles both Peru and Bolivia.

The lake's original name was Khota Mamma ("Mother Lake"), and was only renamed Titicaca after the Spanish conquest.

Horca del Inca observatory, Copacabana.

La Isla Del Sol was known to early inhabitants as Titicaca (Rock of the Puma), from which the lake takes its name.

The legend says that deity Viracocha and the first Incas, Manco Capac and his sister/wife Mama Ocllo, mystically appeared there under direct orders of the sun.
It is believed that, first, the lake was created when the Sun God filled the area with tears after pumas ate his children.

Another story claims that Viracocha, the Inca God, rose out of Lake Titikaka and created Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna so the world would have light. He then made Manco Copac and Mama Ocllo, the Adam and Eve of Bolivian legend. After they started multiplying, Viracocha taught his creations how to farm and build houses. After Viracocha left, the Aymara, and later the Inca and their Quechua allies, settled around the lake.

Another legend has the god Viracocha (meaning Lake's Foam), after seeing the beauty of the lake, creating a community of people and animals to live by the lake. Later, Khunu, a powerful god, saw the degradation of humans so he sent a drought to rid the earth of the godless creatures. This is in agreement with the belief that the lake shrunk from where Tihuanaco sits to its present size.

Titicaca : the sacred rock of the Inca creation legend.

"Legends of the Aymara Indians say that the Creator God Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. Viracocha was a storm god and a sun god who was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar and wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created, but knew that he must sustain them. Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sky and mankind, but his first creation displeased him, so he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one, taking to his wanderings as a beggar, teaching his new creations the rudiments of civilization, as well as working numerous miracles. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), setting off near Manta Ecuador, and never returned. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble. References are also found of a group of men named the suncasapa or bearded ones - they were the mythic soldiers of Viracocha, aka the 'angelic warriors of Viracocha'." —Source: Pre-Inca Civilization http://www.crystalinks.com/preinca.html

La Isla De La Luna : formerly known as Koati, was the place where Viracocha commanded the moon to rise in the sky.

Ruins of an Inca era temple, Acclahuasi, a ‘nunnery’ for the Virgenes del Sol.

Life around the lake hasn’t changed much since the Incas...