Rocking the bus over to Bolivia

After a delerious day of fever from food poisoning (a small price to pay for street food), I was back on form and ready for Bolivia.

We ended up taking a two part bus ride with a transfer in Copacabana on the lakefront boarder between these two countries. The Peru half was highly decent and with nothing really to report but sparkling clear views of the lake. Then we arrived at the border to march our way from one bureaucratic office to the next, accumulating more and more stamps along with skeptical mustache furrows from the boarder carbaneros. Back on board, we drove the 8km to Cochabamba. But before we arrived, a man jumped on board and went around to charge each of us 2 bolivianos for a tourist tax (20 cents). This was the first in many, many such incidents in Bolivia where it seems that almost everywhere on the spot you have to pay a few pennies, to walk, breathe and especially to pinch a loaf.

Tolls paid, we were dropped off at the original Copacabana - a holy pilgrimage town for which the famous Brazilian beach town was named after. We had just enough time for a walk around to confirm we didn't really want to spend several days here. It was beautiful, yes, but we opted to just go for lunch on the water at one of the many seafood shacks that served up the famous lake Titikaka trout. Steph and I had just enough time for a beer with fish and chips before boarding the Bolivian bus onward - a wake up call for the kind of transport we were in for.

Lake Titikaka trout comes in dozens of flavors: butter, lemon, garlic, herbs, tomatoes and 'a lo diablo' which must be very hot indeed.

The funniest part of journey came when completely unbeknownst to all passengers, we were asked to get out and go pay another few bolivianos in service fees at a ticket booth. The other gringos obeyed with many confused looks on their faces. Then we all realized we were to take a small fishing boat across a bay, while our bus (and bags inside) rolled on to a a very small wooden barge that could barely hold a car or two! We watched as our bus followed us across the choppy waters, bobbing and tilting like a toy boat in the bathtub.

Safe and sound we carried on to Bolivia - sure in our prospects for many more travel experiences!