La Paz!

We left Puno bright and early on Thursday morning, arriving at the bus station in a rickety moto-taxi. We'd booked ourselves the front seats on the second floor of the bus and we actually got them, which was a pleasant surprise. The bus company seemed very professional, as they came over the loud speaker and explained the border crossing process.

 

We drove for a couple of hours with gorgeous views of the Lago Titicaca and the Altiplano. Just before the border, we stopped at a currency exchange, where we traded in our Peruvian soles (that would be the currency, not the souls of Inca) for Bolivianos. The bus continued on and we all clamoured off at the border crossing. First, we returned our Peruvian immigration cards and tried not to step on the huge, black dog in the middle of the immigration office. The person processing me spent the whole time talking of their cell phone, so they only had one hand to do things with. They almost mis-stamped by passport, but luckily it all worked out in the end. Then, we walked through the stone archway between the countries and lined up to enter Bolivia officially. This office was tiny and we all stood in the doorway, forming different lines for different nationalities. We'd been told on the bus to have 2 bolivianos ready, but they all seemed confused when I asked if we needed to pay.

 

After everyone had been processed, we drove for about 20 minutes to the town of Copacabana on the shores of the lake. The bus stopped just outside of town and someone came on the collect the 2 bolivianos from each person. It turned out to be entrance tickets to some site in the region (that we were, for some reason, required to buy) and nothing to do with immigration.

 

We got off the bus in Copacabana and were told that another bus company would take us to La Paz in about an hour. We remembered to change our clocks with the new time change and we went to have a quick lunch. Our fancy set menu consisted of soup, an omelet and mango ice cream! Not bad for 2 dollars each.

 

Our next bus was nice and quite empty. We sat near the front and enjoyed more views of the lake. From the map, it looked like we would cross a sizable bridge over the lake before getting to La Paz. That, however, would not have been nearly as exciting as what did happen!

 

As we drove near the shoreline, I noticed these strange boat or maybe dock like things that seemed to have track marks for cars. I was quite confused, until our bus stopped at the side of the lake and we were all told to get off. It turned out that there was no bridge and for two bolivianos each we would be taken to the other side.

 

We bought our tickets and climbed onto a very sturdy boat.

 

“ This is an emergency safety announcement. Ship personnel are certified by nobody to deal with emergency situations. Please follow the directions of the person fiddling with the engine to try and make it go. This vessel is not equipped with life rafts or life jackets for adults or children. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with how to swim quickly to the nearest shore. If you have any safely concerns or questions, please keep them to yourself. Thank you for sailing with Lake Titicaca ferries!”

 

Our bus meanwhile, drove onto one of the barges I'd noticed earlier and came over to meet us on the other side. Our fancy bus crossing the lake on a haphazard chunk of floating wood was quite the sight!

 

We made it, safely, to La Paz by 5:00 that afternoon and walked towards the centre of town. We'd found a good sounding hostel from our guide book and now we had to try and find it. We found the building, but it seemed to be full of lawyer's offices and there was no sign of a hostel. Discouraged, we pulled out our guide book to see if there were any other cheap places listed. That was when we read the little note about it being at the top of the stairs on the left hand side. Sure enough, it was there and they had a room for two. Our room is right on the street, which makes it a little noisy but also less frigid in the morning.

 

On Friday morning, we headed out in search of api, which we found after a couple seconds of looking. Api is this wonderful purple corn drink full of spices and pure deliciousness. After warming up and floating in pure bliss for a few mintues, we headed out to the market.

 

The market was described as a 10 block radius full of everything imaginable and that description was spot on. We wandered through the narrow streets, buying fruit, veggies, grains, shampoo and cereal. We even acquired a bag of cheesies!

 

Around noon it started to pour, so we made a bee-line to the closest restaurant. I'm still not quite sure what we ate for lunch, but it wasn't too bad. The sad part though, was that we forgot our huge chunk of squash at the restaurant!

 

We'd only been given 30 days in Bolivia at the border, so we knew we had to go to migracion in La Paz and apply for more time. The guide book said it closed for lunch and opened again at 4:30. We decided to visit a couple of museums while we waited.

 

First, we went to a very impressive art gallery that had Aymara (the local indigenous group) paintings of the region. The colours were vibrant and the images captivating. After thoroughly enjoying that, we went next door to the Andean Musical Instruments museum. From archeological remains of early instruments to fine examples of modern day zamponas, charangos and quenas, it was very educational and super cool! Learning one of those instruments is another goal for the trip (or just life in general)!

 

We learned about the largest ever charango to be built as well as the largest ever charango orchestra, both from Bolivia and both featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. On the balcony overlooking the courtyard, we got to try out a bunch of instruments, including bells, rattles and a beer bottle musical contraption.

 

It was raining again as we left the museum, so we swung past the hostel to grab raincoats and then continued to the immigration office. Of course, when we got there, it was closed. The sign on the door said that it had been open until 3:30 and was now closed until Monday morning. Never trust the guide book!

 

With our afternoon free again, we decided to go for api again and wandered through the market building close to our hostel. We bought long life milk (my favourite!) from a very friendly vendor who told us he'd come visit us in Canada in 5 years. We didn't manage to acquire butter or black tea, but we found green plantains, much to my delight. We also picked up replacement squash, as we didn't feel like walking all the back to get our forgotten chunk.

 

We made quinua-squash burgers in the real deal kitchen and they were delicious, if slightly soggy!

 

This morning, after a bowl of possibly chocolate cereal and a piece of banana bread, we went to the market for api. We squeezed into a stall with a bunch of other people and I finally warmed up for the first time all day. The day had started with a very cold shower, (gas powered showers are beyond my abilities), so it was so good to stop shivering.

 

Then we tried to visit a collection of four municipal museums, including one on the no-longer existent Bolivian shoreline. Unfortunately, we were unable to pay the admission, since we had too much money. Change being the ever illusive thing it is here, we decided to go to a more expensive museum that might be able to break our 100 Boliviano bill.

 

We spent an incredible morning at the Museo de Etnografia y Folklore. We learned seemingly everything about traditional and modern weaving, from the raw materials and dye to exhibits of shawls, belts, tunics and hats. Some of the items were over a thousand years old, but still mainly in tact. We got to see hats from the Wari culture, whose ruins we visited in Peru a few weeks ago.

 

There was a room full of pottery, spanning the millennia. We saw Bolivian retablos and learned about their history. After we'd seen everything on the main floor, we went upstairs to what was labelled as the Walking Exhibit.

 

It turned out to be the most thorough history imaginable of the country, from the ice bridge in the Bering Straight to the election of Evo Morales in 2005. I read about various indigenous groups and empires, admired models of their villages and learned about the indigenous rebellions against the Spanish.

 

It was lunch time by this point, but we were determined to see everything! Downstairs, there was an exhibit on birds of the country, each one with a folktale about it. I learned about the wisdom passed along by condors and the parrots that saved the lives of two Amazonian kids. There were two rooms filled with feather art, intricate head pieces and the biggest feather duster I've ever seen!

 

We left the museum and headed to the market again for lunch. We found a place that had something other than peanut soup on offer and tucked in. Instead of white rice, our meals keep coming with a strange kind of pasta, but it's certainly an improvement. I picked out the veggies and noodles from the soup and the main dish, avoiding the chunks of meat.

 

Since lunch was so cheep, we shared pineapple milk deliciousness and then headed off on our afternoon's adventure!

 

We'd seen the red cable cars of Mi Teleferico from a distance and Dxn really wanted to give them a try. I was less certain, given my fear of heights, but it was well worth it! Mi Teleferico is a commuter gondola that currently connects central La Paz with El Alto, about 500 meters above. There are many more routes being built, with the hope to reduce traffic congestion and connect the bowl-like city more easily.

 

We bought our 60 cent tickets and were soon in a cable car with a few other people on our way up. The scenery were spectacular. I watched us rise above the city, gaining a perspective on its size. Watching the bustle of the streets below was fascinating. Soon we were above the enormous cemetery, teeming with people visiting. We pulled into the middle station and then headed farther up the hillside to El Alto.

 

We got off the shiny, modern gondola and entered into the bustle of the city again. We passed a well attended girl's soccer game and explored the street markets. We bought buns, tomatoes and a small box of Christmas cake. We'd been eyeing it the whole trip and figured that we should see how it is, before we commit to a large one.

 

We walked through a fabric market and I wished I could buy all of it and sew for the next year straight. But we were very retrained and only bought a raspberry cheesecake ice cream bar covered in white chocolate.

 

We took the teleferico down and returned to the hostel to cook dinner. I got to make my favourite meal of tostones/pateones (aka deep fried plantain). I couldn't quite remember how long it took for a French guy to smoke a cigarette on an Ecuadorian farm, but they turned quite nicely.

 

The other exciting event of the evening was finally finding the words to one of the pop songs we've heard on almost every bus ride. Now I can annoy everyone by learning all the words!

 

Tomorrow, we'll visit some more museums, (with the correct change), and on Monday we'll see about getting visa extensions, (if the office is actually open!).

Done