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Published: December 6th 2009
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17th November
Back traveling as a twosome we caught an early morning bus to Copacabana which is in Bolivia. It was an interesting as we got to see small towns on the outskirts of Puno. The border crossing went smoothly and we were just glad we weren’t American as they had to pay $135 visa fee. (Nice one to the queen for keeping those all important relations)
Upon arrival in Copacabana we found a basic hostel ´Residencial Paris´with a room that over looked the lake. The room was basic but at 40 Bolivianos we couldn’t complain especially as it was situated on the main strip to the lake front.
Copacabana although showing elements of tourist targeting was a quaint beautiful little town and more laid back and quieter than Puno. There were little coffee shops/restaurants that offered book exchanges, people selling homemade bracelets and jewelry on the side of the street and then the good old traditional market where you would see the ladies dressed in traditional clothing including Bowler hats.
We ate some lunch on the sun terrace of our hostel then headed to the water front where we saw a religious ceremony gong on with cars dressed
with flowers and people parading waving white hanky’s and throwing flower petals. The rest of the day was spent relaxing with dinner eaten that eve at a local restaurant where we indulged in some lovely pizza. We liked the feel of Copacabana so decided to stay an extra night and plan to catch a bus out the following day.
The next morning we enjoyed a lie in, read books and had good breaki from a local café. We later booked our tickets to La Paz and then walked up the hillside of Copacabana to see the recommended view of the town and lake from above. The walk to the top was easy in comparison to any of the walking we had done less than a week earlier especially when aided by a military camp at the bottom of the hill who where having their roarcus brass band practice and belted out tunes to see us to the top.
That eve we had a bargainous set meal, 3 courses for a quid! And watched the slimy man that owned the bar opposite try and get people in to watch his circus act (the entertainment that eve). We headed to bed
but not before one more rendition from another local brass band that started up again at 11pm.
In the morning we got the bus to La Paz which should have been relatively simple however thye first problem we had was that we had to be diverted back into Peru to get back into Bolivia as the local port was blocked due to a demonstration meaning we couldn’t pass. Once we had the necessary exit stamp we were supposed to transfer onto another bus, however there was some problem with our ticket with the ticket agency not paying the bus driver the required amount, so him not allowing a certain amount of passengers on. After about half an hour of bus driver and agency lady arguing we were allowed on the bus, but without tickets which lead to a slightly worrying bus journey wondering if we were going to be asked to show our tickets at any other point in our journey. We drove crossed the border back into Bolivia changed buses (bus to minibus) with sigh of relief by not being asked for tickets, drove 5 miles to come to a stop by a ditch that had been dug
right across the road. Everybody out of the bus whilst bus tries to get round. Bus can’t get round so whilst it reverses and finds another route leaves his passengers to walk across a field and wait to get collected on the other side, before everyone getting back on and finishing the bum breaking journey to La Paz.
La Paz was a welcomed site arriving in at 4pm. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia and some areas had quite a cosmopolitan feel. After booking a night bus ticket to Potosi leaving later that eve and a few hours to on our hands we decided to put some of the money that my Gran had given to me for Bowks and I to have a nice meal somewhere, so we found a great restaurant called Restaurante Vienna. The food was amazing and it was nice to be eating at a posh restaurant and wished we had dressed up a little bit more. (but thank you, thank you, thank you Gran!) Feeling the need to satisfy our sweet tooth we indulged an ice cream from a shop just around the corner and it was massive!, so big that it had to
come in a polystyrene burger box! At 8pm we headed back to the bus station to get our next night bus to Potosi this one a joyful 12 hours!
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