Saturday, July 30th – 9 am: sitting on the big terrace of our hostel, overlooking the beautiful lake Titicaca and the other houses that are spread out all over the cliff that emerges from the water. Yesterday, we hiked up pretty far with our backpacks to get to this place but this amazing morning view makes up for it once again. In the evening we had dinner at a little place called “Inti Jalanta”, eating Trucha (Trout) and Quinoa Soup (both of it was so good!) and again, sitting on a terrace, overlooking the still water of the lake and watching the sun set behind the mountains on the mainland. If it wouldn’t have gotten so cold, we could’ve spent ages there, just enjoying that view. Right now, the sun is beginning to warm up the air but chilly winds still make it too cold to take off my jacket. We got up at 7:30 am – after 11 hours of much needed sleep -, Alessandra left for a hike, but I decided to just relax for a bit, sit here and enjoy the island feeling. After that exhausting border-crossing-bus-ride-filled day yesterday, just sitting here feels so extremely good. I think, Isla del Sol might just be the perfect spot to lean back and regain some strength.
Our overnight bus trip, crossing the border to Bolivia – Cusco, Puno, Copacabana – in a nutshell:
Thursday, 10:15 pm – our BoliviaHop bus finally leaves Cusco, after saying goodbye at Kokopelli was really really hard… I’m glad, I’m going to return to Cusco in 10 days! Making ourselves comfortable with the duvet blankets in our semi-cama seats, ready for a 7 hour bus ride
Friday, 5:30 am – arrival in Puno – actually, we already arrived an hour earlier and the bus was just chilling in its parking spot for an hour, before our lovely guide woke us from our half-sleep and kicked us all off the bus to get some breakfast. Alessandra and I had not booked or paid for it but we stole some bread and tea anyway ;)
6:30 am – 30 minute boat trip to the floating islands with about 2000 inhabitants on the lake, slowly being woken up by the cold morning air (the couple of hours of sleep on the bus were not that relaxing after all…). The tour was super touristic, everything for show, everything for sale but still interesting to see: they have solar cells next to every hut and it’s crazy to see how these huge artificial islands are being built. The little girls on the island sang songs for us in Italian, English, Spanish, Quechua & even Korean! Of course, asking for money afterwards – they sure know how to impress and then make money out of that…
8:45 am – back on the bus, next stop: Bolivian border! Fell asleep immediately for 2 hours, then the craziness started. Filling out immigration forms, grabbing backpacks at the border, first office, first stamp (stayed in Peru for 31 beautiful days), walking 200m across the border into Bolivia, money exchange (Bolivianos are even cheaper than Soles!), waiting in line forever (I don’t understand why they don’t hire more personnel for border offices) , second office, second stamp – admitted to Bolivia for 30 days! 20 more minutes to Copacabana (supposedly the original one and role model for the one in Brazil)
2:50 pm – finally, the bus rides are over for now. Off we go on a boat to Isla del Sol!
Here I am now, about to spend my second night at Alex’ house, our couchsurfing host here in La Paz, who lives in a big and beautiful apartment on the 23rd floor, with an amazing view, in a building with door keeper, right next to the five-star Ritz Hotel. After going to an electronic music party, right after we arrived here yesterday from Copacabana at 11 pm – actually the first party where I was being served fruit on the dance floor -, many taxi rides, cuddling with three other people on the back seat, the taxi driver not seeming to have passed any driving tests, an amazing brunch with two other couch surfers form Seattle & Finland, booking our tour to the salt flats with “Altitude Adventures”, finding out that our host is the owner of that agency and co-owner of the BoliviaHop bus company we got here with, going to a food-serving-reclinable-seats-movie-theatre, watching Ghostbusters, walking through the Witches Market… after all this border crossing craziness, these new adventures, interesting encounters & most of all an amazing first couch surfing experience, I gotta say that I am pretty happy to be here in La Paz right now. Happy to be exactly where I am in this very moment: sitting on the living room floor, Alessandra and Alex watching ‘Life of Pi’, me writing this blogpost. Thankful for this journey, the past couple of days, making it to yet a new country and excited to move on and for the adventures ahead of me. Travelling is such a great thing and life is so good.
➔ Off to the Salt Flats in Uyuni tomorrow, via night bus again – stay tuned for yet another Bolivia adventure!
lenacatherine 