SALUDOS FROM THE ANDES:
CHASING DONALD DUCK THROUGH THE REAL LAKE TITICACA
Last updated: February 7, 2026
Welcome back! If you’ve ever watched Saludos Amigos and thought, “Donald Duck is having a wildly better vacation than I am right now,” then you’re in exactly the right place.
Today we’re heading to Lake Titicaca, the real-world inspiration behind one of the most charming segments of Disney’s 1942 goodwill-tour film, Saludos Amigos. If you haven’t seen it recently, this is the short where Donald Duck — in peak chaotic‑tourist form — attempts to explore the Andes with a stubborn llama, a precarious rope bridge, and the kind of altitude that makes even the calmest traveler question their life choices. It’s bright, it’s charming, it’s educational in that “Disney tried their best” sort of way, and it’s packed with real cultural references from Peru and Bolivia.
This post focuses specifically on the Lake Titicaca portion of the film — the landscapes, the people, the boats, the textiles, the floating islands, the llamas (of course), and the high-altitude drama that inspired the animators. But don’t worry — I'll be circling back in a future post to explore the other Saludos Amigos segments and the real places behind them.
So grab your poncho and your sense of adventure as we head to the highest navigable lake in the world.
Lake Titicaca sits high in the Andes, straddling the border between Peru and Bolivia, and there are two main jumping-off points most travelers use: Cusco on the Peruvian side and La Paz on the Bolivian side.
One of the best parts about visiting Lake Titicaca is that there’s no single “right” way to do it. You can join a guided tour, travel independently by bus or car, use public transportation, or even take part of the journey by train from Cusco to Puno. I ended up doing a mix of independent travel and guided excursions once I reached the lake towns, which worked well for balancing flexibility and cultural context.
Here’s a quick overview of the route I followed:
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Cusco to Puno: 240 miles (386 km) — about 7 hours
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Puno to Copacabana: 90 miles (143 km) — about 2.5 hours
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Copacabana to La Paz: 100 miles (155 km) — about 4 hours
The journey makes more sense when experienced step by step so I'll explain more in the sections below.
My Lake Titicaca journey began in Puno, Peru, a high-altitude lakeside city of roughly 130,000 people sitting at 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) above sea level.
Getting here from Cusco took about seven hours by road (and would take longer by train). I’ll warn you — the road journey can be bumpy due to unfinished and unmaintained stretches, and you’ll gain about 1,500 feet (460 meters) in elevation along the way. Altitude acclimatization is essential here — slow walking, lots of water, and patience go a long way.
floating islands
Puno exists largely because of the lake. Long before tourists arrived, Lake Titicaca was a vital source of food, trade, and transportation. Today, Puno is best known as the gateway to one of the most visually distinctive places on Earth: the floating islands of the Uros people.
The islands are constructed entirely from totora reeds, layered and re-layered as the bottom decomposes. Walking on them feels a bit like stepping on a waterbed made of straw—springy and slightly unstable. Historically, the Uros built these islands for protection and fishing, and while those traditions still matter, tourism is now the primary source of income for most families living there.
There are several ways to visit:
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A short excursion to the closer islands, perfect if you’re tight on time
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A full-day tour that reaches islands farther out on the lake
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Or a homestay, where you spend the night with a family on the islands (for travelers who want a deeper cultural experience)
And yes, while you're there you can ride on a balsa reed boat, just like Donald Duck does in Saludos Amigos. The resemblance is uncanny, though today many tours attach a small motorboat to help move things along a bit faster than the wind alone.
markets
Once back on dry land, you’ll likely start looking for the markets the animators showcased in the film. As luck would have it, I arrived at the start of the Candelaria Festival, Puno’s most important celebration, held annually in early February. The city transforms with days of music, dancing, and elaborately costumed performers honoring the Virgin of Candelaria. This timing made one detail from Saludos Amigos especially vivid: the markets.
During Candelaria, they felt bigger, louder, and more extravagant than usual. Vendors sold everything imaginable — hot street food, sweets, clothing, traditional textiles, religious items, and decorations for the festival. It felt like the animated sequences had come to life, only with more music and significantly better snacks. But don't worry. Even if you're not visiting during the festival, there are several smaller pop-up markets appear around town, especially on weekends.
llamas
And if you’re hoping to see llamas—and Saludos Amigos definitely gives that impression—you’re unlikely to spot them wandering through Puno itself. But there’s a popular and worthwhile workaround. About 45 minutes outside the city are the Sillustani Tombs, an archaeological site overlooking Lake Umayo. These towering stone burial structures, called chullpas, date back to the pre-Inca Colla people and were later used by the Incas. The setting is dramatic and wide open, the kind of landscape that feels tailor-made for animation backgrounds. Many tours to Sillustani include a stop at a local family home, where llamas are kept and visitors learn how they’re used for wool, transport, and daily life. Seeing them here—against the open highland scenery—feels far more authentic than any city encounter and adds real-world context to the film’s visual language.
From Puno, I continued south toward Copacabana, Bolivia, a journey of about two and a half hours plus a border crossing. The transition between countries is subtle geographically but noticeable culturally. Copacabana sits at roughly 12,600 feet (3,840 meters) but feels smaller and more relaxed than Puno. When I visited, it was the last weekend before children returned to school, and the waterfront was lively with families, snacks, and vendors selling sweets.
isla del sol
The star attraction here is Isla del Sol, the legendary Isle of the Sun. According to Inca tradition, this is where the sun god Inti was born, along with the founders of the Inca civilization. Disney didn’t explicitly spell this out in Saludos Amigos, but the sense of myth, scale, and reverence for the landscape fits perfectly with the film’s slightly awestruck portrayal of the region.
Today, people still live on the island, farming, hosting visitors, and maintaining ancient pathways that crisscross the hills. If you’re short on time, most boats will drop you at Yumani and pick you up later at Challapampa, allowing for about an hour-long walk across part of the island. It’s uphill, sun-exposed, and breathtaking in every sense. Just remember that you will likely be going a bit slower than usual due to the altitude.
If your schedule allows, you can also stay overnight on the island, which offers a quieter, more immersive experience once the day-trippers leave. As the sun dips toward the lake, it’s hard not to imagine Disney artists standing somewhere similar, sketchbooks in hand, trying to capture that exact glow.
The wide horizons, the gentle boats cutting across the water, the feeling that you’re somewhere both playful and ancient—it all echoes Donald Duck’s animated journey, minus the slapstick altitude mishaps.
cholitas
And finally, one subtle but important detail in Saludos Amigos is the inclusion of cholitas — Indigenous women in traditional dress — particularly in market scenes. I didn’t see many cholitas in Copacabana itself, but once I continued to La Paz, they were everywhere.
Cholita attire includes a bowler hat, layered pollera skirt, shawl (manta), and long braided hair. This isn’t clothing worn for tourists — it’s everyday cultural expression and a visible symbol of identity, pride, and continuity. In La Paz, cholitas are business owners, professionals, and community leaders, wearing traditional dress in completely modern settings.
Leaving Copacabana for La Paz takes about four hours, including one of the most memorable transit moments of the trip. At San Pablo de Tiquina, the road simply ends. There’s no bridge. Instead, passengers take a pedestrian ferry, while the bus crosses separately on an auto ferry. After reuniting on the other side, the road climbs through dramatic Andean switchbacks toward La Paz. It’s a fitting final travel moment for this Lake Titicaca chapter — slightly surreal, completely beautiful, and very much in the adventurous spirit of Saludos Amigos.
Donald Duck may have struggled with altitude, llamas, and rope bridges, but he got one thing right — Lake Titicaca is unforgettable.
Visiting the real places behind Saludos Amigos makes the film feel less like a cartoon and more like a travel journal brought to life through animation. The landscapes, the markets, the islands, and the people all still carry the same sense of wonder Disney’s artists saw when they visited more than 80 years ago. I'll be continuing this South American Disney adventure soon, exploring more locations that inspired Saludos Amigos and the artists who brought them to the screen.
Until then, keep exploring like you’re part of the Saludos Amigos tour — curious, adventurous, and maybe just a little unprepared for the altitude. ¡Saludos, amigos!