Tuesday (26 March)
Its been an interesting day so far, we started in Puno, Peru this morning all up early ready to catch our bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. Both Towns are on lake Titicaca, the worlds highest navigable lake at around 3800m .we had decided to explore the lake from the Bolivian side as we wanted to visit isle de sol, the birth place of the sun according to the incas rather than Uros, the floating reed islands which we'd heard was a bit too touristy.
So in accordance with our plan we all got on the bus to Copacabana in Bolivia at the bus station in Puno they mentioned that the bus was going an alternative route to la paz because of some strikes but Copacabana was fine so we set off on our merry way. The journey along the lake is pretty nice its a huge lake and we saw lots of llamas and alpacas grazing by the roadside.
Things started to get a bit unusual when we got to the Peru/Bolivia border, cleared all the immigration in Peru got our police stamp, walked 50m though the arch way to Bolivia and did Bolivian immigration also. Then we waited...and waited.we started to wonder g how they know when everyone on the bus has cleared immigration and when we'd start off again.then the bus man comes over and says there is a blockade and the bus can't go any further. Hmmm ok...
So everyone piles into collectivo mini buses thinking they can get us to Copacabana, its only 8km. But it drops us at a row of rocks across the road and can go no further.everyone has to walk the rest of the way.
So we walked!! We passed several more road blocks including a whole tree cut down across road!! Eventually we made it tired and hot into Copacabana. Its a really cute town.unfortunately we had missed the ferry to isla del sol for the afternoon.
The next challenge was to met up with Mark.our original plan had been to meet in the main square in front of the Basilica at around midday and if not to check back on the hour. Since it was now about just about 2 pm we waited till the next hour and made a plan to go have some lunch and check back next hour. Success, Jeremy returns with Mark, despite all having to walk from the border and having only the vaguest of plans for meeting up in a foreign place w did it!! Now we are four!
Having a fresh face gives us a new burst of energy so Meredith and Gem set out to find us a hotel for the night while the boys guard the bags and Mark has a well earned juice. side note, freshly squeezed juice of all sorts of tropical flavours its really big here and is on every menu. So yummy!!
Further success we find a hotel for about $20 each! After a siesta and watching the stunning sunset over a few beers we ventured out for dinner. Another interesting experience, we chose Mexican thinking w couldn't go too far wrong... For about the first half hour atleast we didn't see any grown ups only a 6 or 7 year old kid who gave us menus and the order pad to write our own order down! Luckily they also had games so epic Jenga ensued and a game of hearts before the drinks and food arrived.
Wednesday
At breakfast about 20 plans were made and discarded for what to do for the day, do we take the boat to the isla del sol, do we stay the night there (our original plan) or just do a day trip. As we learned more about the blockade situation.
We decided to go for the night, then in the boat Mark chatted in Spanish to the boat driver some more we changed the plans a few more times and decided to come back in the afternoon. Slowest boat ever probably never went above 5 knots.
The trip was amazing. The island is very barren and dry with beautiful beaches and amazing vistas across the lake.we got dropped in the north and hiked to the puma rock the site of the birth of the sun and the beginning of the inca creation legend. there were also ruins of an inca or maybe pre inca settlement which were cool and had an amazing view. Also there was snow on the ground!! It was really hot but at 3800m asl really the weather can do anything!!
Next we caught the boat down to the south of the island to check the inca staircase and inca spring.very cool such a huge flow of water coming out of the rock.pretty breathless at the top of the stairs tho! Altitude is hard!
Mark had somewhat arranged with the boat driver that he could take us around the blockade by water to the border whet we'd b4 able to get a bus to la paz to continue our journey. When when we went back to chat with him in the evening no sigh of him. So we hiked up the hill above Copacabana and took in another amazing sunset over the lake. really its an idyllic spot.
Thursday
The plan this morning was to find a boat driver to take us and some other gringos we had tagged in with to the border. Unfortunately Mark came back with bad news, the village has spoken (!), no boats are to take gringos to the boarder. No boats are even going to the island today. Thank goodness we had decided to come back! Ok so what about a taxi could we get dropped to the first blockade? Apparently also no the village has spoken about that too. Its walk or stay.since we have a bus booked tonight to take us to the salt flats and we're running out of time having already spent more time here than planned its really a choice of walk or walk.
Some other tourists told us one of the bus companies was walking all together to the border (8km, at altitude, with packs) then the bus would be waiting there. We boosted to get our stuff ready and joined the convoy of backpackers trudging along to the border. it was a very long way and our packs seemed to get heavier by the meter but we finally made it. Went through the Bolivia immigration, went through the Peru immigration, got tonnes of passport stamps. Then waited, and waited. Finally a bus came as promised and we we're on or way to la paz.
Since this is the alternative route after about an hour we arrive at the next Peru/Bolivia border and have to go through double immigration again. This time there is a massive queue but we nailed it and eventually finally we have arrived in la paz. The only bit of la paz we'll be seeing is the bus station. But the view of the city from the road coming in was spectacular, the city is set in a valley with high (very high la paz is at 4000) snow capped mountains in the background, and its huge!
Now we've had hamburgers and are stocking up on snacks for the next leg of our journey. The overnight bus to Uyuni to get a tour of the salt flats.
Stay tuned :-)
Love Gem and Jez
Pictures...in a random order sorry :-)
Foot path on Isla del Sol
Isla del Sol
Road block on the way in
Gringos walking out of Copacabana
Bolivia border crossing
Sunset from Copacabana
Copacabana town
Isla del Sol
Puma rock
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment