AROUND THE GLOBE: Titicaca, the Aymaras Indians

Bolivia. From Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at an altitude of 3800 m, Stéphane Peyron sets out with glaciologist Bernard Francou to take samples at the summit of the Ancohoma, at 6200 metres in altitude. It's like reading a history recorded in ice, etched out by the lake. Stéphane then heads out to Suriki, one of the 27 islands on the lake, where he meets the Aymaras fishermen. For them the lake constitutes a whole religion: according to their legends, men are descended from the water and from the rocks. Stéphane ventures out with the Aymaras on their little wooden boats, through a labyrinth of reeds, trying to establish a dialogue with these people who are wholly devoted to the "Pachamama", or Mother Earth. Out on the lake time stands still; it is like floating on the edge of the world.