27.11.10

Boarder Crossing to Bolivia & Copacaban

On Friday, 27.11.10 I took the bus from Puno in PERU to Copacabana in BOLIVIA at 8.30am. It was a beautiful bus ride as most of the way we drove along the LAKE TITICACA. After approx. 3 hours we arrived at the BOLIVIAN boarder where busloads of tourists queued up in from of the IMMIGRATION OFFICE & MONEY EXCHANGE OFFICE. When I finally was asked for my passport I realized that I had lost my Immigration paper from Peru.

So they send me over to a different officer who charged me 40 Bolivianos which is approx. 5 USD. Thank God everything is so cheap over here and I was lucky enough to get my BOLIVIAN stamp in my passport.

At around 2pm we finally arrived in Copacabana in BOLIVIA. Copacabana (Copa with a population of 54.300 inhabitants) is nestled between two hills and perched of the southern shore of LAKE TITICACA. With a French couple I walked to the "Hostal Sonja" which was recommended by the Lonely Planet. After I have checked in for 30 Bolivianos (approx. 4,5 USD) I strolled through the nice and charming town. On the way down to the lake I bumped into Rolef, a guy from Vancouver who I met two months ago in Cusco in Peru.

We went for a coffee outside a nice Café and he told me about his trip through BOLIVIA and provided me with lots of useful information and tips for tours and hostals.

At 3pm we went down to the beach where we had lunch at some of the local stalls. We had the most delicious, fresh and huge trout right from the lake and we could watch the young chicas while they were preparing our trout. Mmmh…. how yummy and so healthy!