South America Day 21
We woke up in Puno to rain, but it was more serious this time. We were so lucky to catch Lake Titicaca on a couple of clear days. Our exit from Peru was a rather dreary trip on a bus alongside Lake Titicaca.
Copacabana
The border crossing was a bit odd. We had to go to the Peruvian border control point and get our passports stamped. Next step was to change our Peruvian currency for Bolivianos. We then had to go back to the bus, grab all our belongings & hike them half a mile up the road to the Bolivian control point. It was all a bit of a hassle with the intermittent rain.
We then boarded another bus (well a small van really) for the short drive to Copacabana. Not the Copacabana Beach everyone would be familiar with in Rio de Janero, Brazil. This one is at the water's edge, but the water in this case is Lake Titicaca. When we arrived we left our gear in the foyer of some hotel & set off to explore the town & find some lunch. The only thing that was remotely interesting was this church. The markets around them are almost exclusively to sell offerings for the church.
At some point we had to cross the great lake at a narrow straight to
avoid a long detour back through Peru. The trick would be getting the
bus across. We all got off the bus and crossed the straight on the
small boats pictured. For boats this size you would expect some sort of
inboard engine. Nope. Little 20hp outboards that we'd attribute to a
small run-a-bout or tinny.
We made it OK, but our bus didn't look quite so safe. You can just see it toward the back of the photo above.
This is how our bus crossed and probably the reason we were made to
get off and take the ferry boats. These dodgy little barges didn't
look stable at all. I was thankful that I'd taken my passport and
valuables with me. The bus made it, but it was interesting all the same.
Apolobamba Range
About half way to La Paz we saw the Apolobamba Range for the first time.
It's what I'd thought the Andes were meant to look like. We were
following along the spine of the Andes mountains. This range is well
over the 6000m mark as the snow caps will attest to. On the other side,
the Amazon jungle 6km below.
La Paz
We reached the outskirts of La Paz. It looked pretty much the
same as the other bigger cities we'd been to. At that point we were
around 4100m above sea level. We drove past the airport which is one of
the highest international airports in the world at 4061m.
Not
long after, we took an exit & descended some 300m to the heart of
the city below. The city centre & the more affluent areas (in
contrast to most places in the world) are at the lower altitudes. This
is due to the altitude. The lower the altitude, the easier it is to
breathe & the healthier you tend to be. La Paz is the highest
capital city in the world at 3660m. (Note that La Paz isn't the capital
of Bolivia, but the business & administrative capital. No, I don't
quite understand the difference either.)
As we neared the city centre, the traffic went from busy to mad! It
was just like Lima. Eventually we came up to a round-a-bout that had 7
streets entering it. It was basically at a standstill. We sat in the bus
for a good 20 mins half way across the intersection. It turned out to
be only a few blocks from our hotel. It was an experience.
That night was all a bit sad. Our tour leader, Roberto was also leaving us. His job was done & he was about to back track from where we had come from that day & then on to Arequipa. He was going to spend some time with his family before starting another tour in a few days.
Our friends Emma & Gemma were also leaving us the next night. They were about to wing it from then on. They were planning to do the salt flats & Bolivian dessert like us & then going to Argentina.
On the positive side, we were gaining two replacements for the girls & a new tour leader. Corina & Sandra (the replacements) were from Switzerland. When I asked them whether they were German or French speaking Swiss, they told us "We speak both, but we are from the Italian speaking valley near the border".
Interesting. They were a little bit older than the throng of English 20 something girls on the tour which was very welcome in my books. More on our new found friends later.
That night was all a bit sad. Our tour leader, Roberto was also leaving us. His job was done & he was about to back track from where we had come from that day & then on to Arequipa. He was going to spend some time with his family before starting another tour in a few days.
Our friends Emma & Gemma were also leaving us the next night. They were about to wing it from then on. They were planning to do the salt flats & Bolivian dessert like us & then going to Argentina.
On the positive side, we were gaining two replacements for the girls & a new tour leader. Corina & Sandra (the replacements) were from Switzerland. When I asked them whether they were German or French speaking Swiss, they told us "We speak both, but we are from the Italian speaking valley near the border".
Interesting. They were a little bit older than the throng of English 20 something girls on the tour which was very welcome in my books. More on our new found friends later.
