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Friday 10th April
We get up early and there is hot water for a shower! We pack and go down for breakfast. I'm wary of eating after feeling off after dinner. I have juice and tea and take a bread roll with me. My jeans are quite loose now. I guess that's the journey. We leave about 6:50 to catch our bus at 7:30. Jesus is leaving the tour today as he doesn't want to go to Bolivia just to return to Lima.
We are travelling around the lake to Bolivia. Mostly it's more of the same. We see men up power poles with only rope. There are sections of what appear to be fishing net squares set out about the lake edge.
When we reach the border we have to change our money to bolivianos and them wait in a very long time in the rain and it's freezing. Inside there is only 1 man stamping passports and there are at least two bus loads of ppl. It takes at least an hour. Then we have to walk up the hill to the border and then down to Bolivia immigration. Much quicker. It's much warmer on the bus and we ride for 20min. Then out again and bus change. About 40-50min we stop at the lake crossing, so it's all out and a short wait while our Bolivian guide buys boat tickets. 2 bolivianos. We get into a small 20ft wooden boat with an outboard on the back. There are seats for sitting and we squish up. The outboard sounds like it might die at any moment, but we make it. Then we have to wait for the bus to make it across on a large flatter boat. It's another 2 hours at least to La Paz. The roads seem quite poor and the horn honking continues. I catch a little nap. Coming into the outskirts of La Paz the roads are dirt and uneven. There are lots of buildings that seem empty or not completed.
Traffic in la paz is even crazier and I try not to pay too much attention. Everything seems bigger and badder, dirtier and busier. I'm not sure I like it. We get our directions and meet for dinner. We arrive by taxi. Asian food; but not the way we're used to it. We end up with most of what we ordered as take home. It's nice to have a dark room to sleep.
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