Puno to La Paz via Copacabana

We start our day at 5:00am to catch up on blogging before our trip to Bolivia. After a quick breakfast, we grab our bags and meet up with our transfer to the Puno bus station. The trip takes only 15 minutes and soon we are sitting on the bus with a bunch of other tourists heading to La Paz. The sky is crystal clear but an icy wind blows through the city. Just after 7:30 the bus starts up and trundles out of town. 

The 3.5 hour bus trip to the border post of Kasani passes uneventfully. Occasionally lake Titicaca comes into view on our left, and to our right we have the bleak brown hilly landscape of small farms and towns. The border crossing goes relatively smoothly. We are forced to exchange some dollars at a bad rate at the border to pay a 1 Bolivianos (Bs) tax for the privilege of entering Copacabana. We set our clocks an hour forward, Bolivia time. After another 8 km we are dropped off in Copacabana and meet up with our tour operator who informs us we will catch an onward bus to La Paz at 13:00 and we have some free time to explore. We make our way down the main street to the lake front. 

We laugh at an unimpressed dog in camo pyjamas in the pic below!

The town of Copacabana is a total tourist trap. All the shops along the way are offering clothing, curios, snacks, and the cool cafe's and restaurants compete for the tourist buck. A couple of boho travelers, who look like they have been travelling forever, saunter up and down the street. The local vendors call out to us in spanglish, trying to tempt us to buy their wares. We reach the lakeside and enjoy the views and take snaps.

  

We venture out onto the rickety piers and fight to keep our balance against the buffeting winds.

Soon we are feeling hungry and look for a place to eat. We walk back up the main street and settle on a restaurant with a nice sunny patio sheltered from the wind. We order drinks, hamburguesas, a bowl of nachos and a pollo sandwich. The meal is decidedly average, the nachos are disgusting. No time for post purchase dissidence, we pay the lunch bill and make our way back to the bus stop. Just after 13:30 we are back on the road. 

The road winds back and forth along the contour of the island. The driver is gunning it, braking hard, trying to overtake slower vehicles. Roughly an hour later we reach the port of San Pedro Tiquina. We have to get off the bus, which will be ferried seperately across the water on a ramshackle pontoon. 

We queue up at a ticket office to buy our tickets (2 Bs) for the passenger boat. Next we have to show passports to a policeman, even though we are already in Bolivia, they don't seem to be taking any chances that a group of dodgy South Africans might infiltrate their country and commit unspeakable acts of crime and mayhem :) 

Shortly after we scramble onto the next available boat and take our seats. The boat is packed, there are at least 20 people on-board. The weatherbeaten helmsman guides the boat out of port, the engine is missing a cover and who knows what else. The lake is rough today and the waves break against the side of the boat throwing spray onto some of the passengers. Fortunately the trip takes only about 20 minutes and we disembark at the port of San Pablo Tiquina. 

The port is a dump. A bunch of stray dogs roam the area, plying the tourists for food. Policemen slouch around looking bored. The usual troop of vendors sell refreshments and curios. There is a square with a statue of some or other war hero. We wait patiently for our bus to arrive, praying all the while that it does not sink in the lake with all our worldly possessions included. Eventually the bus arrives and we take our places for the final leg of the journey to La Paz. The trip is uneventful and we doze off. 

Later the bus enters the outskirts of El Alto, a seperate city that developed directly above La Paz. The plains seem to stretch out as far as the eye can see, only the distant snow capped Cordilleros rise up in the distance. El Alto seems to consist of rows and rows of unfininished multistory buildings constructed from terracotta coloured bricks, in a word - ugly. Not a single green living thing in sight. As we approach the more developed parts, the buildings take on more polished look, painted in vibrant mustard or green colours. We hit the rush hour traffic and we join the thousands of minibus taxis and busses. It is comforting to observe that no matter where in the world minibus taxis are operatored, the drivers are equally aggressive and answer to only to their own rules of the road.

After what seems like forever we catch our first glimpse of La Paz. The city is huge, filling almost the entire valley that cradled its development. High rise buildings and verdant parks are visible as we descend to the city, an oasis of civilization in a desert land.

The bus eventually deposits us on a street curb somewhere on the hill behind San Francisco church and the witches market. In the rush to collect our bags I drop our passports, but fortunately Sandy Morrison comes to our rescue and picks them up. We retreat to the lobby of a nearby hotel, and soon our final transfer arrives to take us to the Europa Hotel a few blocks away. Our tour guide Vladimir, who accompanied us from Copacabana, explains a bit more about the city as we drive. We check into the hotel, unpack and shower. This is by far the nicest hotel we have stayed in on our tour and we are forgiven for lingering in the rooms instead of rushing out and exploring the city.

We meet for complimentary Euro sours cocktails in the hotel bar, before heading to dinner at 7pm at La Troncera, a walk of about 20 minutes away. The restaurant specializes in grills and we struggle to make our selection from the expansive menu. Eventually we settle on a mixta parilla (beef, chicken, pork and sausages - just like our braais!) and an llama skewer. All the meals come with a salad bar including green salad, carrot salad, quinoa soup, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, fried bananas and more. When the food arrives, the waiters also tie a large white bib around each persons neck... By the end of the evening we have all overindulged. As usual we have a bit of challenge with calculating everyone's bill.