Altiplano, angleška visoka planota, imenovana tudi Puna, območje jugovzhodnega Perua in zahodne Bolivije. Altiplano izvira severozahodno od jezera Titicaca v južnem Peruju in se razprostira na približno 600 miljah (965 km) jugovzhodno do jugozahodnega kota Bolivije. Gre za niz medmestnih bazenov, ki ležijo na približno 12.000 metrih nadmorske višine. Jezero Titikaka zaseda najsevernejši bazen; južno sta jezero Poopó in solnici Coipasa in Uyuni. Porečji so ločeni s špricami, ki segajo proti vzhodu od gore Kordillera of Andes. Na vzhodni strani Altiplana pa je neprekinjen prehod z blagim naklonom, ki sega proti jugu čez Bolivijo. Cordillera Oriental iz Andov tvori vzhodno mejo Altiplana.
Bolivija: Altiplano
Veliko kmetovanja na Altiplanu je še vedno samooskrbnega tipa z drobnimi posestmi; vendar je prišlo do dramatičnih sprememb
Prevladujoča vegetacija je sestavljena iz trave in grmovja. Divjad regije je prvotno vključevala alpako in lamo, ki sta zdaj vzrejena za volno in služita kot pakiranje živali. Južna polovica Altiplana spada v območje pomanjkanja vlage, medtem ko severna polovica dobi padavine, primerne za gojenje poljščin brez namakanja.
Temperatures around the shores of Lake Titicaca are moderate, and corn (maize) and wheat can be grown there to an elevation of 12,800 feet (3,900 metres). The basin, now the location of urban centres such as Puno and Juliaca, Peru, has been the core of a relatively dense population since ancient times. La Paz, the chief political and commercial city of Bolivia in the Altiplano, is located not far southeast of Lake Titicaca, at the bottom of a spectacular chasm 1,400 feet (400 metres) below the surface of the Altiplano but still 11,909 feet (3,631 metres) above sea level.
The southern half of the Altiplano is much less hospitable to settlement than the north, although its desolate expanses of desert yield important mineral resources including copper, silver, tungsten, and tin. One of Bolivia’s main railway lines runs along the eastern edge of the Altiplano, from the southern edge of the Titicaca Basin southward to Oruro, Bolivia, where the line forms two branches, one extending to the tin mines of Unicia, Bolivia, in the Cordillera Oriental, and one to the basin of Cochabamba, Bolivia, on the lower eastern slopes.
