1961 APRIL LAKE TITICACA BOLIVIA Fishing boats or balsas and the distant snow-capped Cordillera Real with one peak, Illampu, touching 20,842 feet (6,368 metres) high. This is close to the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, a high lake set among snowy Andean peaks. The mean altitude for the water level is 12,507 feet (3,812 metres). For many years Titicaca has been noted for the craft made by the Aymara people who live around the lake. Bundles of dried Totora reeds growing in the shallow water are held together by ropes of twisted natural grass. When this picture was taken the Aymara were still using their fishing nets or uru tumina q'ana supported on a circular wooden frame. Many of the fish that once were abundant have gone and so too have the hoops.