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Published: August 7th 2007
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Bolivia border crossing!
Thankfully after the Peruvian border crossing the crossing from Peru to Bolivia was lot easier and had no hassle at all and probably the best border crossing on the whole trip it was literally door to door service!
We got a bus direct from Puno to Copacabana, Bolivia all for 3 pound and took 4 hours. There were only fellow travellers and most of them posh British youngsters, a group of about 10 travelling together on a break from Uni for a month and you could tell as very naïve and not really prepared for South American travel! They were dressed like they were in Spain for a few weeks and expected the locals to speak English, so found it frustrating trying to get anything done! Very funny for me to watch but also a bit embarrassing as they are making England look bad! It made me feel old as I was just saying the young of today and Michelle wanting the girls to cover up! An example of how stupid they were. We arrived at the border and had to get our passports stamped on the Peru side and then the Bolivian side in two
different places which the driver in English explained very well. These kids were all over the place and just took forever in the end the driver had to herd them about and at one point expected him to tell them to hold hands so they wouldn’t wonder off any further!!
During all of this we also had to change over money from Peruvian Soles to Bolivian Bolivianos and after last time with the fake money episode we were a bit paranoid and checked everything as much as we could. The kids just handed over there money and took what ever rate the women said and as usually we haggled to get a rate closer to the real rate. The kids got totally ripped off and when we told them what rate we got as one of them wanted to change some dollars also they all worked out how much they got ripped off and tried to renegotiate with the money seller and surprisingly she was having none of it! Hopefully this is a lesson they will learn and after giving them a few tips for the future I am sure they won’t get stung like that again especially one
of them who went to the bank the same day we left and had lots of Peruvian money because she thought the money could be used in Bolivia as well! We changed about 20 pound and got 310 Bolivianos firstly the exchanger wanted to give us 250! The girl had about 140 pound to change and got 1750 Bols which worked out about 110 pounds! She was a bit pissed off when she found out!
The bus dropped us at a hotel that it was getting kick backs from but we wasn’t bothered as it happened to be the hotel that was recommended to us. We got a nice room with fantastic views of Lake Titicaca for 5 pound a night so were happy enough.
Copacabana was an o.k. place but not really to much to do apart from the local attraction of Isla del sol and Isla Del Luna. We choose to go to the main island of Isla Del sol.
There was a number of different ways to get there but choose the most scenic which involved walking just under 20k to get to the port where we would then get a boat. The walk
was very nice and we picked up a few stray dogs on the way to keep us company. One thing the lonely planet says it is to find your way but we needed to ask direction a few times other wise we would of got lost in the end it was just best to let the dogs lead and follow them as they must have done this trek with a number of different travellers in the past and they got us to the dock safely. We felt a bit guilty as the last town we walked through must have something against dogs as lots of people threw stones at them and even with us protesting didn’t stop. So we were worried what would happen to them when they had to walk back that way, they did see sorry to leave us and not sure if this was genuine sympathy or because they didn’t want to walk back through the town with out us!
We got a row boat over the Island which took about 45 minutes and the young guy didn’t stop once and I was knackered just watching him! It only cost us 1 pound each which is
just wrong for the amount of work it took. As soon as we got there I thought he would get a drink or something he just turned right back around, he must be super fit and the Bolivians should get an Olympic rowboat team together!
Once we arrived we were accosted by the local kids to get them to there hotel and we picked the kid who gave us the best price and started the long hike up the hill as that is where the best views are. We were knackered and glad to get were we were going. We managed to get a nice room with amazing views for only 2.50 pound a night. The room was probably best we have had for the views we could see from it on the whole trip and hope the pictures do it justice. The Island itself was beautiful and the surrounding mountain scenery just out of this world all you could do was just sit back and take it all in it was perfect. We were also lucky to arrive during the fiesta of San Antonio the local patron Saint and there was lots of festive dancing and music and
the part of island we were staying all seemed like they were pissed, that probably explains why the kids were the ones doing all the business for the day! The church of St Anthony was only a stones throw from where we were staying so very noisy but great to be a spectator in it all. Some of the costumes the men and women were wearing were amazing and they put on a great show.
The second day we were there we decided to do a walk around most of the Island about 20k and to take in some of the views and sites. We were virtually on our own for the day and it was brilliant going from one Incan ruin to the next and virtually having the ruins to ourselves. One of the main sites was the Incan Temple of the sun. This was a main site for the Incas as they seen Lake Titicaca and this Island as the birth of the sun and after seeing a few Sun rises I can see why. The first sunrise I saw on the Island was amazing and one of the best I have seen, as the sun appears
from the mountains it looks like its being born as it distorts the mountains, lake and the clouds and it looks magical. Hard to explain but so glad I was there to witness it. The other days were not as good but still spectacular.
We stayed four nights in total and just loved taking it easy walking around the island and just chilling surrounded by amazing views watching the sunrise and set, the only bad thing was the water was too cold to swim in at about 10c, if it was warmer it would have been even more perfect. It was a great place to come to get away from it all and forget about all worries so will have to remember it if I get some in the future.
Again I am back to another beautiful lake and the same emotions as all the other previous lakes I have talked about over the last year. There is definitely something linked to these environments that give off peaceful and relaxing vibes, I have never felt so relaxed than when close to some of the lakes on the trip. I think I will have to make sure that my
future involves being by a lake and then I will live a long and happy life.
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