I got to the bus depot early in the morning with my ticket to Copacabana which I conveniently purchased through the hostel. They have a massive terminal due to the many bus companies, but it was not hard to find my company's desk. A surprise awaited, the road to Copacabana is under a strike for 2 days and the bus will not be allowed. I decided to go all the way to La Paz today and take a miss on Copacabana.
It was a plesant day for a drive. There is an amazing amount of flat land up here. We passed lots of farmland like this.
It was a plesant day for a drive. There is an amazing amount of flat land up here. We passed lots of farmland like this.
Every once in a while we would get a glimpse of Lake Titicaca again. This one shows a village on the shore.
The boarder crossing into Bolivia was smooth in that there were no hassles about payment or searching. They know who they want apparently. The police came on board and took one man off and he didn't come back.
For the first part of the trip I had a decent tourist bus but at the boarder we first went through immigration leaving Peru and then had to walk several blocks carrying our stuff to another bus on the Bolivian side. My hands were full so I didn't get my camera out. Our new bus was not as nice and there wasn't anything to do about it except go with the plan.
We had to go through immigration and customs on the Bolivian side too and then we were off. The whole process took less than an hour.
Entering La Paz. The streets in this outlying area are very wide.
My hotel was in an older part of central La Paz. Marianna (my Bolivian friend) called it a dodgy area and the hotel recommended that I not take my day pak along unless I put it on the front. No problem, I just took my change purse on a tiny, hidden over the shoulder carrier.
Here I am looking from my hostel window toward the main street and a beautiful building with a green roof.
A couple of blocks from my hostel is the San Fransisco Plaza named after the Cathedral on the right. I am standing beside Witches Market to take this picture.
Witch has a different context here. It means female ancestor, or honoured grandmother.
Just another street scene. The sun is warm at midday but the temperature drops quickly in the evening. The elevation here is 3,600 meters above sea level.
The hostel has no heating and the buildings are always much colder inside. I slept in a couple of jackets as well as my clothes the first night. The hotel provided a small heater after that.
La Paz was where I began to fall seriously behind on blogging. They had a rudimentary Internet service at the hostel but it was down. I coped by using Internet service on the street but that was hit and miss as well and meant I had to move my pictures to a portable device which I had along.
I have found that thing to be invaluable in many ways but mainly to print e-tickets and hostel reservations as I go along.
Well, that is today's story. Tomorrow I am going exploring.
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