Sweet Sound of ‘Thump’
5 November 2005 (Saturday) – Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia
I had stayed at the terminal so as to make it easier to catch the early morning bus. It turned out, the bus made its rounds around the centre to the hotels to pick up all the tourists. Hmm… indeed, the bus was entirely filled with tourists. I guess, Bolivian and Peruvian people go by local packed micros that are much cheaper.
We were distributed Bolivian entry forms. There was a section asking if we are terrorists, have committed acts of genocide, have trafficked or have the intention to traffick drugs, have committed acts of fraud or have the intention to do so, have ever been in jail for more than 5 years, have ever been charged in the judicial court, blahblahblah… It was almost brainless ticking ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘No’… til I came to the point asking if I had ever had my visa rejected by Bolivia.
Whooops. I had. But it was ridiculous to tick ‘Sí’ now!! If I tick ‘Sí’, it is as bad as stating that I have committed any one of the above heinous acts of crimes or have the intention to. Sheeesh… What am I to do? Well, I lied. I ticked ‘No’.
When we reached the Bolivian customs, the guy made some disapproving noises about my visa being dated 16 August 2005, which was more than 30 days ago. Wait a minute… when I obtained the visa from the Bolivian Embassy in Caracas back in August, I had specifically asked if I needed to enter Bolivia within a certain period, usually 3 months, but the lady at the embassy had informed me that, “No, the 30 days of entry start the day I enter.” So, I patiently explained to the authorities here what I had been told. I actually had the business card of the very nice lady at the Bolivian Embassy in Caracas but for the life of me, I had no idea where I had left it. The customs guys hawed and hemmed, each one not willing to take the responsibility. Oh no… I could not believe that I had come this far to have them turn me back to Peru!! The guy stamped on my entry form, but the stamp lingered above my passport as he made one last inquiring nod to another guy lazing in the corner. Finally, the lazing guy made a small flickering gesture and ‘Thump’, ah… yes, the sweet sweet sound of the stamp on my passport!! I am in!
Copacabana is not to be confused with Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro which incidentally, is named after this tiny town… and there is a nightclub in Rio that is named after the district… and there is a song by Barry Manilow that is named after the nightclub… and there is a musical that is named after the song. Yes, all sprung from here in Lago Titicaca, imagine! Anyway, check your bus ticket properly before making your way there for Carnaval. You need warm woolly clothes here at 3,800m. The see-through sequined tights and feathers would do you no good here.
A tout hustled me to the best hotel with the best private toilet I had ever been… all for only 15 bolivanos (about US$2). Great deal! Well, no wonder it is a great deal, I could see the huge level of competition for tourists’ money here. I had never been here before… obviously… but I am sure over the past years, Copacabana had totally been transformed to Gringo land (with capital ‘G’, if I may add), with pizza restaurants, American breakfast cafes, and other restaurants prettily decorated in rustic style and with wooden seats and tables (which seemed to be the ‘traditional’ or ‘authentic’ style the locals think the gringo tourists fancy and hence, frequently used to attract the rolling bucks). Personally, I prefer normal plastic tables and chairs, where the owners are so busy churning out the g-o-o-d food that they never bother about decorations.
The church is an interesting piece of architecture, with Moorish-style tiled-roofs. Vehicles were lined up in front to be blessed by the church. It was gorgeous, but frankly, the area around the main streets and plazas was too touristy for my taste.
I determinedly wandered off the main streets and plazas and found a market. Everywhere in the restaurants and the market, trout was sold. So, it must be a speciality here, direct from Lago Titicaca. I bought mine from the market, yum yum yum.
The other very obvious national snack item is pasankullas, which are HUGE popcorns… some varieties were simply gigantic! Women were selling them by the carts! Get a ‘small’ (ahem! as small as you can find anyway) bag and munch away for the next few d-a-y-s.
At the money exchange today, I was given four 100 boliviano notes. That evening, I decided to try and break one of them. I could not believe that I walked from restaurant to restaurant, up to 4 of them, asking if they had change for 100 bolivianos if I took the set dinner (which was 6 to 7 bolivianos)… and each of them rather turned my business away. Finally, I gave up. I agreed to one lady to order a la carte, chalking up to say, 15 bolivianos, and she finally agreed to accept me as a customer. Some service here!
Tags: 09) Bolivian Rhapsody, Copacabana
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