After our very cold and rainy bus ride to Puno, we worried that our weather luck might be running out but we woke to a beautiful, sunny day in Puno. Puno’s claim to fame is the Uros Islands. The people of Uros fled from the Incas and figured out a way to build an entire city on the lake. We had scheduled a tour to go and visit the islands because they were only accessible by boat. Along the way, we learned the history of Lake Titicaca which is the highest navigable lake in the world (12,500 feet above sea level). Lake Titicaca is shared by Peru and Bolivia and each country claims to have a larger part of the lake. Each country also claims that their side of the lake is “Titi” and the other side of the lake is “Caca”. As we approached Uros, we saw dozens of “islands” with huts on them. The island we visited was inhabited by 10 people and one person was elected “President” of the island and represented their island at the larger council which had an overall “President”. The President of our island explained in depth that the islands were made from reeds that were cut apart, dragged to the location of the island and bound back together. As the reeds settle, the islanders add to the top layer continuously and each island lasts approximately 30 years. If one of the islanders wants to go and build his own island, the new island must be approved by the council. The islanders made beautiful handmade crafts and relied heavily on tourism for survival. They did not speak English or Spanish but spoke Imada so our guide had to translate. The huts were one room and our guide (who lived on another island in a different region of the lake) said even he could not stand to sleep in the huts because it was so cold. At the end of our visit, our hosts sang some traditional songs for us and yelled, “Hasta la Vista, Baby!” as we left which gave us all a laugh. Our stay in Puno was a quick one as we jumped onto our double decker Peru Hop bus the next morning to make our way across the border into Bolivia. After a pleasant ride around the lake through some very tiny Peruvian villages, we disembarked at the border to begin the laborious task of checking into Bolivia. Earlier in the 2000s, someone in the United States pissed off Evo Morales (previous President of Bolivia…more to come on him next week) so US citizens are now required to have a Visa to enter Bolivia. Prior to leaving on our trip, we had gathered all of the necessary information including: passport, two passport photos, proof of flight to exit country, proof of hotel stay, a bank account statement to prove we had money and most importantly, $160 USD each. First, we had to pass through the Peruvian immigration office to exit the country. Our guide from Peru Hop walked with us to the Bolivian immigration office to assist. Luckily, he had a copy machine handy because we needed two copies of all the materials. A woman from China was also checking in with us while everyone else on the bus got simple stamps in their passports and left on the bus to continue the trip. After copying all the nonsense, we got in line behind the Chinese woman. She went through all the steps to obtain the Visa until the officer asked her where her exit stamp from Peru was located. She had not exited Peru, therefore, she could not enter Bolivia. The officer told her she needed to walk down the hill and get her passport stamped. While she was gone, Bill and I continued our check-in process. The most hilarious (and yet, sad) part of the event was the list on the wall of countries who needed the same level Visa as the USA. The countries on the list included Yemen, Somalia, CHADD, Syria and all the “stan” countries. Seriously?! Again, I am not sure who made Evo so mad but evidently he was really mad. Unfortunately, all the Visa requirement does is cause US citizens to choose other countries in South America which hurts the Bolivian citizens far more than it hurts the USA. As we were wrapping up our Visa party, the Chinese woman came barreling back in front of us and said, “I have NEVER been treated so rudely in my life! I am not going to get an exit stamp from Peru! I will just NOT enter Bolivia. I will take my business elsewhere!” Bill and I were very confused as to who had treated her poorly because the officer had been nothing but polite to her. As the tour guide, Bill and I got into the taxi to go to our hotel, all we saw in the rearview mirror was the Chinese woman walking back down the hill toward Peru.
Our first stay in Bolivia was the beach town of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. If we had to vote, we would definitely say that Bolivia got the “Titi” portion of the lake and Peru got the “Caca” portion. The temperature in Copacabana was in the upper 60s/lower 70s the day we arrived. The lake was packed with locals partying like it was the Fourth of July! If you have ever been to Myrtle Beach, I want you to close your eyes and picture all the “toys” that Myrtle Beach has from jet skis to parasailing to the banana boats. Now, multiply that amount of toys tenfold! Boats were dragging hundreds of people around on dragon boats, octopus boats, spaceship boats, pirate ships and amongst all that chaos were a few crazy people rowing kayaks. Speed boats zipped in and out in a complete frenzy barely missing each other. It was insanity. Given how much Bill and I love crowds, we headed in the opposite direction to get some food. We found a local restaurant that was playing old USA rock songs from the 1970s and 80s which was a vast improvement from the Musak we had been suffering through the past few days. We decided to order Carbonara pasta which might seem odd but we were tired of the usual South America food this particular day. When the pasta arrived, it was one of the best pastas we had ever eaten! For another snack in Copacabana, we had onion rings which were amazing and finished off our odd food tour with an Oreo cheesecake. Who knew that Copacabana, Boliva would be such a unique food mecca?! To wrap up our stay in Copacabana, we went on a tour to Isla del Sol which was the supposed birthplace of the Incan Empire. Our boat ride was about an hour and when we arrived, we explored an Incan temple. At that point, the guide pointed out the hiking trail to go to the top of the island for “views” and stated that the walk was about an hour long. Since Bill and I continued to struggle with breathing, we did not want to slow the rest of the group down so we voted to sit at the bar and wait for the hikers to return. We were very happy with our decision when the younger ones were returning from the hike looking exhausted. With no time to spare, we all hopped back in the boat and headed to meet the bus which would take us on to La Paz. When we reached the bus stop, our guide came over to me and said, “You are going to ride in this van with another family because the bus is full.” I checked out the van and agreed that option would work for us. Meanwhile, a woman we called “Karen” went over to the van with her husband and son. She immediately refused to ride in the van “because there are no seatbelts”. I said, “I understand. Your son needs a seatbelt”. She turned to me and said, “Um, we ALL need seatbelts!” with a very snotty tone. I burst out laughing and said, “Good luck with that in Bolivia!” because we have not had seatbelts in any cars since we left the States in 2020. We were just happy the car had wheels and doors! In the end, they crammed that family on the bus and Bill and I had a private taxi to La Paz. When the guide climbed into the car, Bill asked him how the bus was overbooked. The guide simply said, “Ah. It was election day in this region so all the usual drivers were drunk. Only the one bus driver was able to make it.” And to think Karen was worried about seatbelts! The drive through the mountains with the lake below had some amazing views. In the distance, we saw mountains with glaciers and when the sun was setting, the reflections off the glaciers were breathtaking. Bill asked why the Bolivian bus was not a double decker bus like we had in Peru. The guide laughed and said, “A double decker bus won’t fit on the ferry.” So, Bill and I were both picturing a ferry with a lower clearance. When we approached the ferry dock, it was not a lower clearance…it was no clearance. The “ferries” were barge-like creations that would hold two to three normal sized cars. The ferry man would grind the edge of the barge onto the shore using a small outboard engine and then the cars would quickly load before the barge floated back out onto the lake. Bill and I enjoyed our taxi ride on the “ferry” as all the bus passengers had to disembark and take smaller boats across while the bus went on the ferry. I am guessing the ferry man did not trust that his ferry would not sink to the bottom of the lake. After the ferry excitement, our remaining drive to La Paz was uneventful. We ended the initial leg of the Bolivia trip by checking into the Hotel Elegance….trust me when I say it was a hotel but it was no longer elegant! More information to come next week! **More pics on Pictures Tab
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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