Lake Titicaca

Neither the protohistoric nor prehistoric name for Lake Titicaca is currently known. Given the various Native American groups that occupied the Lake Titicaca region, it is likely that it lacked a single, commonly accepted name in prehistoric times and at the time the Spaniards arrived.

The terms titi and caca can be translated in multiple ways. In Aymara, titi can be translated as either puma, lead, or a heavy metal. The word caca (kaka) can be translated as white or gray hairs of the head and the term k’ak’a can be translated as either crack or fissure or, alternatively, comb of a bird. According to Weston La Barre, the Aymara considered in 1948 that the proper name of the lake is titiq’aq’a, which means gray discolored, lead-colored puma. This phrase refers to the sacred carved rock found on the Island of the Sun. In addition to names including the term titi and/or caca, Lake Titicaca was also known as Chuquivitu in the sixteenth century. This name can be loosely translated as lance point. This name survives in modern usage in which the large lake is occasionally referred to as Lago Chucuito.

Standish argues that the logical explanation for the origin of the name Titicaca is a corruption of the term thakhsi cala, which is the fifteenth- to sixteenth-century name of the sacred rock on the Island of the Sun. Given the lack of a common name for Lake Titicaca in the sixteenth century, it is argued that the Spaniards used the name of the site of the most important indigenous shrine in the region, thakhsi cala on the Island of the Sun, as the name for the lake. In time and with usage, this name developed into Titicaca.

Locally, the lake goes by several names. The small lake to the south is called Huiñamarca. The large lake also is occasionally referred to as Lago Mayor,and the small lake as Lago Menor. In addition, the southeast quarter of the lake is separate from the main body (connected only by the Strait of Tiquina), and the Bolivians call it Lago Huiñaymarca (also Wiñay Marka, which in Aymara means The eternal city) and the larger part Lago Chucuito. In Peru, these smaller and larger parts are referred to as Lago Pequeño and Lago Grande, respectively.
The cold sources and winds over the lake give it an average surface temperature of 10 to 14 °C (50 to 57 °F). In the winter (June – September), mixing occurs with the deeper waters, which are always between 10 to 11 °C (50 to 52 °F).

Lake Titicaca is home to more than 530 aquatic species.

The lake holds large populations of water birds and was designated as a Ramsar Site on August 26, 1998. Several threatened species such as the huge Titicaca water frog and the flightless Titicaca grebe are largely or entirely restricted to the lake, and the Titicaca orestias has become extinct due to competition and predation by various introduced species of trout and silversides. In addition to the Titicaca orestias, native fish species in the lake's basin are other species of Orestias, and the catfish Trichomycterus dispar, T. rivulatus and Astroblepus stuebeli (the last species not in the lake itself, but in associated ecosystems). About 90% of the fish species in the basin are endemic.

Titicaca is home to 24 described species of freshwater snails (15 endemics, including several tiny Heelobia) and less than half a dozen bivalves (all in family Sphaeriidae), but in general these are very poorly known and their taxonomy is in need of a review. The lake also has an endemic species flock of amphipods consisting of 11 Hyalella (an additional Titicaca Hyalellaspecies is non-endemic). It is also a great place to see the Milkyway.

So Yeah Thats Why Lake Titicaca is So Great, and A Great Place to Visit!