Quick facts: The seat of the government of Bolivia, but not the capital; GPS: -16.49572, -68.13355; GMT-4; Altitude: 11975′
Nuestra Señora de La Paz – Today was more about getting things done than any sightseeing. Although I did manage to get a few things in along the way. I woke up and had breakfast and some coffee and then the alpaca hand took me over to see them in their pen. It was pretty funny to see them all corralled together and watch me as I got closer and closer. I took a bunch of photos and even got to see a vicuna that was roaming around outside. I then headed back to my room, got ready and then met the driver as he pulled up. He drove me to the meeting point in Puno and I waited for the bus to get us all who were waiting there.
From Puno we drove to the Bolivian border which took several hours. This is one of those times I knew was going to be difficult but luckily I was prepared for it more or less. I got my exit stamp from Peru and walked across the border to the Bolivian side and that’s when the fun began. In order for an American to get a visa at the border one has to provide these papers: itinerary while in Bolivia (in English and Spanish), hotel reservation confirmation, bank statement, passport photo, $160USD for the fee, and the one thing I either didn’t see or thought they would provide us with on Peru Hop was the proof of transportation. I had to print the bus info off and luckily it was easy to do and only cost S/5. I had read some bad stories of people getting to the border and not being prepared and spending a lot of money to get what they needed to I tried to have everything and a backup copy just in case to make it go as quickly as possible.
Once I got the visa, which is good for 10 years, I grabbed my stuff and Peru Hop turned into Bolivia Hop and they took me and a few others to Copacabana. This is a little town on the coast of the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. We had several hours there as they schedule a large chunk of the trip to stop there for people to do a day tour of a nearby island or like me to have enough time to get through immigration. I missed the tour so I’ll do it on the way back when I won’t have to mess with the paperwork. I had a late lunch at a restaurant right where we were dropped off before going for a walk around the town since I had plenty of time to kill. While I was walking around I got a Bolivian SIM card for internet and got to see some sights. It’s a nice little town but I don’t think I would want to spend too much time here.
The meeting time for the bus was at 18:00, we loaded and we were off to La Paz. From Copacabana it was a really bumpy ride with nothing to see really as it was dark most of the ride. We did stop along the way to get off the bus and take a boat across the strait as they have no bridge to connect to the two sides. That was interesting, and something I haven’t done in a while. My boat’s name was Titanic. Haha.
After more bumpy roads and nothing to see we got into the La Paz area. This is when I first got to experience traffic in La Paz. Let’s just say that it is not fun. It took us more than an hour to get from the outskirts to the center of town at 22:00 at night. When we finally arrived at the end of the journey the ones that were left got out and they walked us to our hotels. Mine was close but luckily I was checking things myself because they tried to drop me off at another hotel with a similar name. Mine was around the corner a little and I got there on my own. I checked in, went to my room and hit the rack.