Well, you`ll be glad to hear that we did make it to Lake Titicaca, but as with most of our bus travels, there was a hic up or two...
We got to the bus station in plenty of time for our 10.30pm bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. Now, the bus claimed that it was a DIRECT bus to Copacabana, and then it would carry to to La Paz. Hmmm, I think that their definitition of a DIRECT bus and ours differ a bit.
In my little happy world, a direct bus takes you from point A to point B without you having to change buses ... at 6.30am we were kicked off our bus with 7 other people and told that we had to get on another bus (again, we definitely differ on the definition of BUS). What can be almost classed as a mini van showed up, our bags were hefted on to the roof and we were told to get in. Then the lady told us that we would have to pay again for the transfer. Wait a minute!! Why are we paying a second time to get to Copacabana??? Well, the Argentinian girls sat behind us and were having none of that either. One of them very eliquently told the lady to piss off, as we were not paying twice for our DIRECT bus to Copacabana.
The lady finally came round and said that another mini van/bus would pick us up on the other side ... then she left. Right ... anybody feel like we`ve been done again??? Well, we had little hope of not having to pay twice, but as there were 9 of us, we went along for the ride (besides, the other bus had already left). The little man driving to `van` dropped us at the border on the Peruvian side and said that we had to go to immigration and then walk across to the other side, where a van would be waiting. So, what does the van look like? He didn`t know. What`s the driver`s name? He didn`t know. Will there actually be a van? He claimed there would be. Yarg!
We walked over the border as a group and it was completely safe. Immigrations were a breeze and so then what. Well, the Spanish lady and Brasilian dude went to ask about how much a taxi would be. The tall dude packed up and decided to walk the 8km (he claimed it would only take him 30 minutes ... in what world I don`t know). The rest of us sat with the bags and then magically the lady appeared again! She took us to the van that was there loaded us on and then wanted a tip. So she wanted a tip for leaving us, abandoning us in a van?? Hmmm I don`t think so! No tip!
Rolling into Copacabana just after 10am, we were hungry and so was the rest of our group, so we went out for breakfast 10 BS (that´s the sign for Bolivian money) and then had to find an ATM ... well ATM`s don`t exist in Copacabana, so we had to do a direct debty thing from a bank like place. It was all very confusing. We did try to exchange what was left of my US dollars, but they man said that the dollar bills were too small of an amount, and the tiniest corner of the $10 bill was gone, so they wouldn`t accept it! (we later found out that the bank won`t accept anything but pristeen bills, too bad the guy didn`t tell us that!)
We did manage to arrange our bus to La Paz for the next day, and our ferry to Isla del Sol (the island of the sun). Ahh! The island really was beautiful (sorry Miranda). And very relaxing! There wasn`t much to do, as there are less that 100 inhabitants on the whole island (well, that would be my guess anyways!).
Plus we stayed in one of the best hostels yet! A double room with nice warm blankets for maybe 2 pounds! They even let us dry out our clothes!!! So nice!
Off to our next big city, the high altitude capital of Bolivia, La Paz! We`re just hoping the bus ride isn`t too eventful!
Anna and Steph
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