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Published: April 4th 2007
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Luggage Rack
Yep, those are our bags being hoisted up on top of the bus! As cheap and straightforward as travel is here in South America, one thing I'll never quite get used to are the early morning starts. Today we travelled from Puno in Peru to La Paz, capital city of Bolivia and we were up at 5.30am to make it to the terminal in time for our 7.00am Panamericana bus departure. Despite the early start, I certainly can't knock the price of just 25 Soles per person (about £4) for the 7-hour cross-border journey.
The Panamericana service is aimed solely at tourists and it was helpful having someone on board who spoke enough English to give the busful of Gringos the right info for getting across the border as straightforwardly as possible. That said, it still seemed an over complicated process of getting stamped out of Peru, having passports checked at the Bolivian Police station before getting stamped in at the Bolivian immigration. We weren't the only busload of tourists to arrive at the same time so there was a lot of queuing and general head-scratching before everyone made it back on the bus ok. I have to say though that it was far less intimidating or stressful than other land crossings
Bus Boat
I still can´t believe that one of these boats actually took our bus across the water! we've done and we didn't fall foul of any bogus taxes or bribes from officials on either side.
Our first destination in Bolivia was the wonderfully named Copacabana (cue: Barry Manilow) where we would be changing buses for our onward leg to La Paz. Copacabana seemed like a laid-back kind of hippy traveller town with a seriously tourist driven approach that would rival anything in Cusco. We had considered staying here but it was quite expensive in relation to the rest of Bolivia and to be honest, in the hour and a half break between buses, we pretty much saw everything the town had to offer.
Getting our second bus was a bit of a hassle especially when our original bus drove off with all our luggage still on board! Needless to say this wasn't a good thing but when we tracked down the guy who gave us the border crossing info, he assured us the bus would be coming back and our bags would be transferred to the next bus. When it came to finding our connecting bus though, it was chaotic. We were thankfully reunited with our bags and then told to head to the white
Sail Away
The bus boat in action. Hope our bags arrive ok! bus on the corner. There were 3 white buses on various corners and as it turned out, none of them were going to La Paz! Eventually we overheard a lady calling out Panamerica La Paz and moments later our luggage was being hauled up onto the roof of the 3/4 length bus and in we climbed.
It was pretty cramped on the second bus but we chugged merrily along until reaching the edge of a massive lake. At first everyone thought it was just a rest stop when we were asked to leave the bus but then we realised that we would be getting a boat across the lake - and so would the bus! For 1.5 Bolivianos each (about 10 pence), we hopped on a little passenger boat while the bus rode on to a large flat-bottomed boat that had clearly seen better days. With our luggage still lashed onto the roof of the bus, we watched somewhat nervously as the bus floated surrreally across the open water. It was an unexpected but kind of fun way to break the journey!
The road from the lake seemed to have been recently resurfaced so for the first 200
Hello Sailor
Meanwhile, Glynn relaxes on board the little passenger boat... km or so, it was a reasonably comfortable journey. As we started nearing La Paz province, the road turned into an endless maze of potholes and patches and the bus driver expertly wove the bus around all the big holes although this meant that we were all rocked from side to side in the process. Entering the outskirts of La Paz, we were engulfed in a hive of activity with people and traffic swarming everywhere. We picked up a couple of local people on our way in and dropped them off deeper into the city. This wasn't a problem until the second drop-off when the bus engine decided to die. After about 10 minutes, the driver and his mate managed to get the motor running again although not before sending black fumes spewing into the passenger area.
On the way down towards the city centre the engine cut out another couple of times, once in the middle lane of a congested roundabout which was a bit scary. The final time it cut out, we were in Central La Paz but miles away from the bus station where we should have been dropped off. It was too dangerous for the
Double Trouble
A boat in the hand is worth two in the bush... driver to risk carrying on even if he could fix the engine again but you'd have thought that he did it on purpose the way some of our fellow passengers kicked off. We were just grateful the bus hadn't broken down in the middle of nowhere. We picked up our packs, tried to work out where we were and headed off in search of our hostel.
After about 20 minutes of downhill walking and a bit of frustration at the poor road signage, we found our safe haven in the midst of the busy, busy city - Arthy's Guest House. Our room is wonderful - loads of space, tucked away at the back of the hostel away from all the traffic noise and seriously comfortable twin beds. There's a living room with a large tv and over 100 DVDs to choose from, a kitchen with fridge (even in a cold climate you can't beat having cold drinks) and a really homely atmosphere. There's even a bit of a mini-market here selling everything from Pringles to beer at proper prices. Add to that a pool table and cheap internet at only 3 Bolvianos an hour - that's less than 25 pence! We're staying here for at least a week and at £8.60 per night, it's amazing value for money. Everyone is also really friendly here, especially Ruben and his family, so I think we're going to be very, very happy here!!
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