From Lake Titicaca to the south the Andes Mountains is separated in two leaving between them a high plateau of tertiary origin whose average altitude is 4,000 meters above sea level, a very large plateau of at least 10 degrees latitude that is shared by four countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. In this vast region it was inhabited since 5000 years BC by tribes of nomadic hunters whose evolution created around 1500 A.C the remarkable civilization of Tiahuanaco that lasted until the first millennium D.C. being one of the longest-running cultures in America. Its current majority population is Quechua or Aymara, continuators of the pre-Inca ancestral culture that tamed the flame and cultivated potato and quinoa.

Over the centuries numerous endorreic basins distributed in the Altiplano gave rise to lakes, marshes, baphedales, salt flats and geysers that today are notable tourist attractions. Its native flora comprises various plants adapted to the dry climate of height used in typical food, handicrafts and local construction. Visitors will be pleased to observe Andean flamingos, suris, condors and vicuñas. Although the Altiplano countries have sought to protect it by creating Reserves and National Parks, currently twelve, threats to these extremely fragile high-rise ecosystems continue and increase due to mass tourism, the growth of cities and expanding mining operations.