We were also reassured by the fact that the bus left dead on 7.30am - despite the efforts of a very angry French girl to hold things up by insisting that she needed to get on this bus even though her ticket was for another company. We enjoyed a comfortable and uneventful couple of hours ride to the Bolivian border, and got through immigration with no problems. It was however interesting to note that the Peruvian side had about 6 staff to do their stamps and the Bolivians just one, so inevitably it all took a bit of time.
We were then asked to load our bags onto the top of a minibus and everyone piled in - as you can imagine this stage of the journey was particularly unpleasant for tall people and cramped even for me. We were a little concerned that this would be our transport for the next 3+ hours, but fortunately it was only a short ride to th the next stop, Copacabana. Many people were stopping off here to see the other side of lake Titicaca but those of us who were heading straight on to La Paz were asked to come back in an hour for the 1.30 bus for La Paz.
After having a quick drink and snack with another English girl we boarded our bus. Sitting behind us were 3 English guys we had met in Lima (who seemed to have had bad luck from day 1 - food poisoning, hospital visits, getting lost on a one track island, 40 hour bus from Quito to Lima amongst others) and next to us a couple of girls from the Wirral. It seemed that between us we had met just about every other person on the 3 or 4 buses also heading for La Paz, proving once and for all that the so called Gringo trail is alive and kicking...
The next interesting interlude was when the bus stopped and hour or so later at yet another shore of Lake Titicaca and we were told we had to get off, cross the lake on a boat and the bus would meet us at the other side. Again the photos say it all! Pleased that our vehicle and ourselves had all made it across in one piece - let's just say that the boat was a bit full and didn't like moving very fast - we were back on the bus again. Well, most of us were. Somehow we had managed to lose 4 people. The driver was all set to head straight on, but us passengers persuaded him to wait a little longer as we knew how unhappy we'd be to be left behind. After 10 minutes or so he gave up and we were away, taking some poor stranded peron's snacks and spare shoes with us. Mental note: don't be late for buses in Bolivia.
Finally after a few more hours passing seemingly endless snow capped muntains, we made it to the city of El Alto, a vast sprawl just outside La Paz with limited but clearly developing infrastructure. After winding our way through yet more interesting traffic, we stopped above La Paz to admire the view. All I can say is wow! The photo should give you some impression of the incredicble view down into the basin that contains the city, but it is certainly something that you should see for yourself if you ever get the chance. Despite our by now very long (9 hour) journey we were all in good spirits and looking forward to seeing what life was like inside the city itself.
arriving into Bolivia
Our bus goes across the channel
Our full "small" boat
A view of La Paz (a small part of it)
Glorious mountains in the background..
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