Day 18

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We had all been dreading today as it consisted of so much travelling, however it turned out to be a great day. 2hrs on the bus took us to the border of Peru and Bolivia, then we had an hour to spare in Copacabana which gave us our first taste of Bolivia. It immediately made my top ten! The laid back lifestyle, the guys playing guitars down next to Lake Titicaca and the perfect weather had us more than excited for the next twelve days here. Another very scenic bus ride with almost fake looking views of the lake and the Andes took us to La Paz. Our first view of the city from way above had us all silent... It was absolutely staggering as we made our way down the Altiplano towards the city centre.The bus stopped so we could take pictures of the city from this viewpoint. The city lies huddled at the bottom of a huge canyon with the triple peaked Ilimani providing a dramatic backdrop. Apart from its obvious highs, the other striking feature is that it sits at 3,500m (luckily we were acclimatised by now) and seems to be one gigantic street market. Every spare inch of path is crowded by Bolivian women in traditional bowler hats (top hats) selling handicrafts, food, coca products and icecream. The hotel we stayed at was just near the witches market which was creepy... They even sold dried llama foetuses. Today we also had to say goodbye to half of the group including Lindsay and Ashley, and the family from Melbourne, so we all went for our last dinner to say goodbye. Sue talked me into trying a drink with kahlua, baileys and Cointreau which is called a B52... I'd already had a chocolate calientes y rum (hot choccie with rum) so this shooter took its toll! They don't make their drinks weak anywhere in South America either and one shot is about $2-3, with cocktails being $4 or less. Anyway it was hilarious having a 60yr old lady influence us in terms of drinking. We often have a good convo over a pisco sour or piña colada. Tonight we also said goodbye to Ollie our Peruvian guide, as he is no longer allowed to take groups in Bolivia- guides such as him were chased down by the Bolivian police and kicked out due to the idea that they were taking the locals jobs. Despite losing a few friends we gained a new guide Freddy who was born and raised in La Paz, a young Swiss couple and a solo traveling Irish girl.

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