Bolivia

Charishma and I spent three weeks traveling the western and southern regions, seeing the beautiful landscape and experiencing the unique culture of Bolivia.

Instead of going to the bus station to book a ride that we could be sure would go directly to Copacabana, we stayed true to our Cusco-hermit-selves and stayed in our hostel, Loki, using their travel agency to arrange our transport. On top of the cost being higher than the bus terminal would charge, we had an incredible experience getting across the Peruvian border into Bolivia:

The bus was overnight cama, meaning it left at 9:00pm from Cusco, had fully reclining seats, and was set to arrive in Copacabana at 9:00am. It was a rather comfortable bus and blankets were provided. We always slept with our purses in our laps on these long bus trips, but weren’t bothered by anyone until 6:00am when the driver woke us up to exit the bus and get our bags. It looked like the last scene of Se7en when Brad Pitt gets his wife’s head delivered to him in the desert, vacant and dusty.

We were in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe this is the border crossing?

No. No, it was not.

The driver pointed down the road, “Copacabana, alli.” 

There was a van sitting idle at an intersection with a Bolivian man waving us over. As our warm cama bus drove off towards La Paz, two Irish girls (the only other passengers traveling to Copacabana) marched with us in the cold to the van, lugging our backpacks and duffle bags along too. It only took about 45 minutes for the van to fill up with Peruvian travelers for us to head towards the boarder. Charishma dropped her ipod between her seat and the door and although we looked for it when the van stopped, it was gone forever.

Our driver dropped us off when the road was blocked by a single chain and instructed us to walk to Bolivia.

Ok thanks, see ya never… enjoy the iPod.

Charishma straddling the Peru-Bolivia border

The office didn't open for another 30 minutes so we waited outside with the Irish girls until the officers would let us inside. They didn't speak any Spanish and were relying on us to help them get to CBBA but they would have to wait... Americans have special requirements for entering some countries. Bolivia is one of these places. Charishma and I were aware of the tourist tax (reciprocation fee) of $135US and came prepared with a copy of our passports and two small visa photos of our selves for the border agents. 

Be warned; when paying this fee in Bolivia, have enough bills to have a few not be accepted. 

They only want THE crispest, THE cleanest, THE newest and most virgin bills available. 

Anything less will be rejected. 

We were not aware that the man at immigration would be half an hour late to work that day and give us annoyingly specific interviews. The Irish girls got stamped, no problem. 

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am, enjoy Bolivia.

Not Americans though...

After we were finally approved to enter the country, the four of us took a taxi towards Copacabana. We put all our bags in the trunk and shared a great sigh of relief that the exhausting South American travel was finally over... then the driver threw my duffle bag onto one of the Irish girls to make room for a little Bolivian man to hop in and ride in the trunk. 

Typical. 

Copacabana

Travel to: Over night bus (recommended by Loki) à Van à Walking à Taxi

Hostel: Perla del Lago

Activities: Paddle boat, Isla del Sol

Travel from: Cusco

Total Time: 1 night

When we arrived, exhausted, at 9:30am it was too early for check-in to our hostel so we connected to wifi to update friends and family on our safe arrival to Bolivia. The power for the entire town cut out 5 minutes later and remained off until 6:00pm. Lonely Planet (aka the Bible) had already told us there are no ATMs in the whole town, and we were prepared with cash to exchange.

$1 USD = $6.85 Bolivian Boliviano

*Every other little store will offer currency exchanges with their own floating rates. Shop around for the highest price for your money.

The purchasing power of the American dollar in Bolivia is confidence boosting, but also can be tricky. I downloaded an app to calculate how much money we were spending – almost nothing over $5.00.

CBBA is a small town on the shores of Lake Titicaca filled with restaurants, travel agencies, and tiendas. It serves as a launch pad for travelers visiting Isla del Sol or a rest stop for those headed to La Paz from Cusco. We shopped around during the black out day and bought some more warm clothes: scarves, gloves, and some ear warmers. Alpaca is warm and cheap in these areas; we were loading up on gear before the freezing nights we’ll spend in Uyuini.

The tienda owners got on my nerves at first because they wouldn’t barter, wouldn’t smile, and would charge gringos higher prices than the locals.

I mean…. I get it, makes since for them, it was just frustrating.

Lake Titicaca at sunset

The main attraction of Copacabana, Lake Titicaca is beautiful and clean. Paddleboat rides were only $15 BOB, which is a steal since they are shaped like Swans.

Worth it!!

There wasn’t much else to do, esp with no electricity so we went to an LP suggested café called Coffee Shop Copacabana that had a fireplace and something to eat. They let us stay there for a while reading and writing until it was time to check-in to our hostel.

Charishma warming in the restaurant 

What else there is to do in Copacabana when there is no electricity

play cards... read... take a nap :)

Four person rooms are usually pretty easy-going, but there was a sickly German girl who used all the TP and hot water in the shower that irritated Charishma, my pocket-sized travel companion that gets cold in 70-degree weather. The hostel wasn’t bad but had no central heating, so it was chilly at night. We booked our Isla del Sol transport with a company that would drop us off on the north side of the island and leave 5 hours later from the southern port.

Isla del Sol

Travel to: 1.5 hour boat to the north side of the island

Hostel: N/A

Activities: Inca ruins, N to S hike

Travel From: Scorpion King bus

Total Time: 5 hours

All that traveling to get us here:

Again, worth it. 

Isla del Sol is positioned about 90 minutes by boat away from the shores of Copacabana. We traveled here for the day to see the ruins and hike the island. Most of the habitants on the island are farmers, producing for their own sustainability. The view was 360 degrees of breathtaking; clean blue waters and fair weather. During this easy hike, we visited a few small (in comparison to Machu Picchu) ruins, ran into the Irish girls again, and met an interesting couple of heterosexual life partners from Colorado that would entertain us for months.

Charishma sized doorways at the ruins

After the 5 hour hike on empty stomachs, we were starving. We stopped at a "restaurant" that sold pizza (Charishma is a vegetarian. We ate MUCH pizza during this trip which is 100% fine with me!!!! :) 

But after using the restrooms at this fine establishment and watching our chef feed his donkey while cooking our pizza... we kindly declined our meal, paid for it anyway and made way for the boat back to Copacabana. 

The Ladies Room

We found a little tienda that sold Pringles and each devoured a can to hold us over. Gross, I know.

Charishma keeping warm with the Pringles cans 

In efforts to limit the length of my posts, that will be all on Bolivia... for now!

Still to come in Bolivia: 

La Paz: a terrible, terrible place - including the Death Road bike tour that almost killed us all... ok maybe just me.

Sucre: aka the Hilton Suites of Bolivia 

Potosi: 36 hours of sickness I won't go into too much detail about. probably. 

Uyuini: ...to bring out the inappropriate pictures, or not, that is the question?

Salar de Uyuini: 3 days in the desert with no running water doesn't even begin to cover it.

Still to come in South America:

Chile

Argentina

Brazil part 2

Thanks for reading :)