Boliva: Strait of Tiquina Crossing
Lake Titicaca is actually two lakes – Lago Chiquita and Lago Pequeño – connected by the barrow Strait of Tiquina, which is 850m/2790ft wide at the narrowest point. In any other country in the world you would expect a tunnel, or a bridge, or ferries connecting the two sides… but this is Bolivia, which is somehow reminding me of West Africa. Massive tourist buses cross the straight by first unloading their passengers onto small boats that take them to the other side over the choppy water with 3-4ft waves. The buses then drive onto small and narrow wooden barges – basically planks tied up together – and cross the rough strait on their own. This is positively insane! And I wonder how many cars or buses sink here annually. I almost said goodbye to my bag that was left on the bus. The two towns on each side of the strait are called San Pedro de Tiquina and San Pablo de Tiquina and both have grand monuments to the fearsome Inca kings. But no bridge, or tunnel, or ferry…
