After Joao survived the WMDR (Most Dangerous Road), it was time to move on!
On our way to Peru, we took the bus from La Paz to Copacabana, which would be our last stop in Bolivia.
Copacabana is set on the shores of the Titicaca Lake. Next to it there is a smaller lake called Wiñaymarka and both are connected by a small strait of water called Strait of Tiquina. The trip was a fun ride because we had to cross this strait in a ferry: we in one boat and the bus in another one. Everybody out of the bus and into a tiny boat! The bus itself rode a different boat – looked more like a raft actually and it was much slower.
On our way to Peru, we took the bus from La Paz to Copacabana, which would be our last stop in Bolivia.
Copacabana is set on the shores of the Titicaca Lake. Next to it there is a smaller lake called Wiñaymarka and both are connected by a small strait of water called Strait of Tiquina. The trip was a fun ride because we had to cross this strait in a ferry: we in one boat and the bus in another one. Everybody out of the bus and into a tiny boat! The bus itself rode a different boat – looked more like a raft actually and it was much slower.
We safely reached the other side of the river on the passengers’ boat and had to wait for the bus to arrive. It was a fun sight, all buses riding different boats and we were observing the race! We read later on that there was a proposal to build a bridge there which was refused by the locals – after all, the ferries’ business is what it is generating their income!
But our trip had also a particular event, both interesting and disturbing. On our bus we were surrounded by school kids with their teachers, which we figured they were returning from a school field trip to La Paz. First, the kids were painting the faces of some incautious colleagues that were asleep. They used anything they had in hand: the typical pen or toothpaste. The weird part was still about to come. After re-entering the bus after the ferry trip, the driver realised that two male teachers/supervisors were missing. The kids started to shouting that they were probably in the 'bodega' (bar). When they finally made their way to the bus, we've realised that the kids were right because the two teachers were pretty much wasted! After the next first kilometres they were already half-asleep trying to process all the beer they had drunk. It was when the kids started to paint their faces, using this time ketchup. The teachers eventually woke up and started to mumble typical drunk stuff, with their faces all painted and dirty. We were both amazed and shocked. Everyone was laughing at them, including some other female teachers! We wonder what is the impact on the kids of having such examples, but hey, maybe it is a cultural thing.
Due to its location on the Titicaca Lake, Copacabana a very, very, very touristic place. All businesses were there for the tourist enroute to or from Peru. We had a hostel with lake view, which was quite nice.
We went for a walk on the beach, it was really sad to see how dirty it was! Plastic bottles, beer bottles, all kinds of rubbish was there in the sand and sea. We have seen it often in Bolivia, there is the habit of throwing the rubbish to the floor wherever you are. This includes boats!
We went for a walk on the beach, it was really sad to see how dirty it was! Plastic bottles, beer bottles, all kinds of rubbish was there in the sand and sea. We have seen it often in Bolivia, there is the habit of throwing the rubbish to the floor wherever you are. This includes boats!
We took the touristy boat ride to Isla del Sol, and in it we saw the driver eating a pack of cookies and throwing the plastic out to the sea! It is such a beautiful place and so sad to be treated this way…We did see all over Bolivia publicity informing the citizens to throw their rubbish to the bins and the harms of having rubbish everywhere, leading to diseases. Hopefully it will work!
Titicaca Lake was a sacred lake for the Incas and the Isla del Sol even more! It is said that in this island is where the God of Sun was born! The people living here are either quechua or aymara – they have their own language. As soon as we set foot on the island, a local guide came to show us around – for a price obviously.
Titicaca Lake was a sacred lake for the Incas and the Isla del Sol even more! It is said that in this island is where the God of Sun was born! The people living here are either quechua or aymara – they have their own language. As soon as we set foot on the island, a local guide came to show us around – for a price obviously.
Afterwards, we decided to cross the island from the north point to the south wharf and get the boat back to Titicaca there, according to the guide it wouldn’t take more than 2 hours and a half. What we weren’t expecting was that it would be so hard! The Lago Titicaca is big enough to look like actual sea, except it is set 3800m above sea level! As the island is set on such altitude, it wasn’t easy to breathe. We found some locals during our way that found our difficulty to breathe amusing! It took us 3 hours to get to the north point with just few quick stops to eat and catch one's breath, always speeding up so we wouldn't miss the last ferry. Maybe the local guide was a Speedy Gonzalez :D
It was also in Isla del Sol the only place in all our passage through Bolivia where we really felt like tourists being exploited. At least 3 times during the crossing of the island there was somebody seating under a Boleteria/Ticket office saying you had to pay to cross that part of the island! It wasn’t much (5 or 10 BOL) but it was annoying as there was no explanation why you had to pay, you just do. There was also an old man on the way that was putting on a fence (when we met him) that asked for money as well, as he was supposedly “keeping the tracks in good conditions”.
It was also in Isla del Sol the only place in all our passage through Bolivia where we really felt like tourists being exploited. At least 3 times during the crossing of the island there was somebody seating under a Boleteria/Ticket office saying you had to pay to cross that part of the island! It wasn’t much (5 or 10 BOL) but it was annoying as there was no explanation why you had to pay, you just do. There was also an old man on the way that was putting on a fence (when we met him) that asked for money as well, as he was supposedly “keeping the tracks in good conditions”.
Back in Copacabana, we went to the ticket office to find options to go to Peru, only to find that there was no buses travelling in that direction!! Apparently there was a Peruvian population which was unhappy with the government and therefore threw rocks (!!) at any bus that crossed by. Alle bus companies were therefore not running the usual service, it was said that the quarrel would end in a few days.
This meant we had to stay in Copacabana for an unknown time. Every day we would get up, check-out of the hostel, go up the road to check the ticket office if the buses were running and come back to check-in again! This lasted 4 days!
While we were there, we managed to climb the Mount Calvario, a mount with 12 lookouts representing the stages of Christ’s life. We went there for sunset and it was beautiful and relaxing. It had a great view to the Lago Titicaca. It is impressive how such a huge mass of water is located so high above the sea.
We also tried the local speciality, trout! You can eat it in many ways in Copacabana. In Bolivia we also tried sopa de choclo (corn soup), sopa de mani, sopa de quinoa and pique-macho (this last one was famous but not for us – fried potatoes, with fried meat on top, sausages and egg! Too much fried food!).
This meant we had to stay in Copacabana for an unknown time. Every day we would get up, check-out of the hostel, go up the road to check the ticket office if the buses were running and come back to check-in again! This lasted 4 days!
While we were there, we managed to climb the Mount Calvario, a mount with 12 lookouts representing the stages of Christ’s life. We went there for sunset and it was beautiful and relaxing. It had a great view to the Lago Titicaca. It is impressive how such a huge mass of water is located so high above the sea.
We also tried the local speciality, trout! You can eat it in many ways in Copacabana. In Bolivia we also tried sopa de choclo (corn soup), sopa de mani, sopa de quinoa and pique-macho (this last one was famous but not for us – fried potatoes, with fried meat on top, sausages and egg! Too much fried food!).
On the 20th November, we finally got the ticket to Peru!
Bye bye Bolivia!
Bolivia details:
Language – Spanish
Currency – Boliviano (BOL)
Bolivia details:
Language – Spanish
Currency – Boliviano (BOL)