With a short stop in in Puno, Peru a 12 hour nightbus took us to Copacabana, Bolivia situated next to the beautiful lake Titicaca. When I was a kid and heard the name Titicaca for the first time, I thought it's a made up place (the same I thought about Bora Bora and Abu Dhabi). Actually lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world standing 3800 m above sea level and the largest in South-America. Its catchment area is 58 000 km2, surface area 8732 km2 and maximum depth 281 m.
Copacabana is a lovely small town with many seafood restaurants mainly serving trout as the lake kindly offers plenty of trout.
It's a lovely 20 minute hike up Cerro Colvario mountain to appreciate the view over the city and the lake. We did it at sunset but apparently the sun didn't set this night, the sky stayed grey. On the next evening from the bus window we got the sunset we should have seen.
There are at least 42 islands in the lake. We took a ferry to the Isla del Sol to say that we have actually been in/on the lake. The water is pretty chilly tho all year round and according to the news not the purest as a bunch of frogs were found dead all across the lake boundaries.
When in the bus from Copacabana to La Paz (for a change a short distance and really cheap bus) it finally hit us we're in Bolivia. In complete darkness we were ordered out of the bus without much explanation. When asked what is going on, the conductor simply replied, you go in the little boat, the bus goes into the big boat. By "boat" they meant a kind of vessel that hopefully doesn't drown in the lake. There wasn't a bridge, so this was the only way across. After a 10 minute journey we arrived in a tiny quiet village and for a moment were sure the bus is gone, until it suddenly reappeared in full lights and took us to La Paz. Near La Paz the roads were horrible. Apparently it was roadworks but looked more like an aftermath of a hurricane or an earthquake.
La Paz is the highest unofficial capital in the world (Sucre and La Paz are always fighting over that) situated at 3650 m above sea level in a valley surrounded by mountains. It's also the most populated city in Bolivia.
Bolivia loves its parades. They passed early in the mornings and late at night dancing, twirling and drinking on the street. We woke up to a marching band on a Saturday morning.
Oh these jugos naturales, be sure to ask for japa!
We spent the first day with Ria and Ellen sitting in pubs and walking around town and finished it with a huge and relatively cheap Mexican dinner and Sangria.
To be honest Bolivia is not as cheap as one would think, I often got better food deals in Peru. Also if booking tours or bus tickets never trust the first offer. Ask for prices in different agencies and buy bus tickets in the bus terminal.
Did a free walking tour in the city. One of the best I have been on. The guides are awesome and Bolivia definitely is a country I didn't know enough facts about. La Paz has this one of a kind prison (San Pedro prison) situated right in the city centre. Until a few years ago backpackers could do "prison tours" to see the inside, nowadays they do not recommend it, as once inside, one may be counted as a prisoner and to get out one has to beg and pay a huge amount of dollars. The prison is ruled by prisoners, they buy their own cells, which, when enough money, may have jacuzzis inside. Some inmates have their wives and kids living with them. They have their owns tailors, stores and restaurants. Tho, the best way to make money is to keep working in the coke business, make it inside the prison and sell outside.
Witch market.
We left La Paz with Ellen and Ria on a cheap and not widely know (but really good, even has wifi, which came as a huge surprise) Illimani nightbus to Uyuni. Got there at 6 am and took over a local hostel. We walked in there ready to ask the manager if we can leave our bags there for a little while. As we didn't see anybody and the door was open, we were prepared to just leave our bas and go search for breakfast and a decently priced tour. The manager woke up and let us put our bags into his office, he also advised us to stay there in the warm and use free wifi until a bit later and the better tour companies have opened their doors, as well as enjoy lovely cheap buffet breakfast in the hostel. Thank you so much Ivan from Reina del Salar hostel.
3 days/2 nights salt flats tour we booked from Quechua Connection company and went off in the jeeps the same morning at 11 am. This time we had to put all our bargaining skills into action, but got the price we wanted in the end. It was definitely worth the money. Salt flats and the desert landscapes are incredible. They say food is plain, so we didn't expect much, never have I ever been so surprised, they even gave us ice cream for dessert on the first lunch at a picnic in the middle of the desert.
The train graveyard
We could even go cycling on salt!
The beautiful neverending white flats create many cool opportunities for creative photos, we decided to skip the traditional t-rex photos and became jugos naturales!
Days in the desert are pretty warm depending on the wind, nights and early mornings on the other hand are freezing. Especially the second night 4400 m above sealevel, luckily there are beautiful hot springs to keep you warm. Go in a little before sunset and stay there at least an hour which gives a perfect opportunity to stargaze and wish upon falling stars. It gets so warm and cosy that you don't wanna get up anymore. It would have been a 300 m cold walk uphill but luckily our driver Max came to pick us up.
Chinchillas!!!
We have spent pretty much the last month in high altitudes, the highest being 5200 m, and I have been super fine with it, no altitude sickness, headaches or anything. Just that the uphill moving gets you out of breath much quicker, but that passes in seconds once I stop. On the last evening in the heights a mysterious sickness attacked, I'm still not convinced it was altitude as we visited some geysers just before and apparently the steam gas coming from there can cause some effects.
We crossed Bolivian border with Ria and Daniela very painlessly as our guide just took our passports and got them stamped as we were late and our transfer was about to leave. After a 40 minute drive we were on Chilean side of the border, passport check was quick but the luggage controllers were on strike so we had to wait 3 hours without Chilean money on the border, 400 meters from our accommodation. At least we had a bottle of good Chilean red wine. Cheers!
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