At the edge of Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 3,860 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) lies Puno, a captivating, enchanting city. The city has a strange magnetism that seems to emanate from the surrounding mountains, its lake that's looks more like an ocean, and its people, descendants of the Aymara, a strong people who once ruled the high plateaus. Before the expansion of the Inca Empire, what we now know as Puno, in the southernmost part of Peru , was home to the Tiahunaco culture , the apex of Aymara human development, as shown by archeological remains discovered in the area. Puno, according to legend, was also the cradle of Inca civilization, as Manco Capac, the first Inca, rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca, under the orders of the Sun God, to found the Inca Empire. Lake Titicaca, at 3,815 m.a.s.l., is the world's highest navigable lake and, with an area of 8,400 square kilometers, the second largest in South America.