Bye-bye Bolivia!
After our Isla del Storm experience, it was great to have a proper night´s sleep back at the Hotel Rosario in Copocabana. We´d booked our seats on the bus to Puno which was due to leave at 1.15pm. Puno is about 3 hours away from Copocabana and the next stage of our South American Adventure – in Peru!
So we got to the bus “stop” where various other travellers were milling around. The 4 German students got on first and bagged the front seats with the best all round views (no towels required on this occassion – although it was slightly annoying to see them all reading books halfway though the journey!!!).
The bus was actually really comfy – big seats and enough leg room for three rows on economy aircraft! Aahhh – this was going to be a pleasant journey. The bus filled up and we were ready to go. Then there was shouting and screaming outside. Someone always has to spoil it!!! A group of Argentinian students were trying their hardest to get on the bus. Did they have tickets? Had the bus company sold too many tickets? Who knows? A couple of guys came round the bus checking everyone´s tickets. Everyone seemed kosher. After more arguments, particularly from one fiesty madam, the Argentinian students camped on the bus steps and the bus engine started. We moved off around 2pm and probably left Copacabana around 2.20pm!
Not far from Copacabana is the border with Peru. Here, we got off the bus with our passports, Bolivian visa to hand back in and our freshly filled-out Peruvian visa to be stamped. The bus stopped in front of a chain across the road. We queued to enter a building with 2 officials sat behind desks. The passports were stamped again and the paperwork shuffled. We left this “office” and crossed the second chain across the road. That was it – goodbye Bolivia and hello again Peru! Very strange!
Then more commotion. The Argentinian students were getting on a different bus that was already on the Peruvian side. But then they were getting off again with feisty madam screaming at anyone who came near her. It certainly passed the time from a people-watching perspective!
And then we were back on the bus. The Argentinians were again draped over the steps and seemed much calmer. And Eugene pulled out some cheese, ham and tomato butties that he´d found in a takeaway sarnie shop in Copacabana – bless! It was just like being back on a school trip! So we carried on our way around Lake Titicaca to our first stop in Peru, Puno.
Tags: Bolivia at last!
mihai