Adventure continues – Welcome to Bolivia
27 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Stories from the world and me Tags: Bolivia border crossing, Veronika Jemelikova
Sometimes travelling brings you to situations and places that surprise you and even scare you. When I decided to go travel to Peru by myself, I was kind of scared. I was not sure if it is safe enough and if I will be able to find friends or feel lonely. I remember my first day in Peru. After reading all the information in guides about dangers of getting mugged I was walking around streets in the night, holding my handbag firmly close to my body, looking at all strangers passing by and being afraid. After a little while I just realized…all these strangers around are people living here, these strangers are couples walking hand in hand, enjoying cool air of the night, youngsters hanging out on the streets listening to music, street sellers of hand craft. It hit me. I am in Peru. And I love it. So I let the handbag go and let in the fresh air. This will work.
I spent first week in and around city of Arequipa. First two nights I spent with my couchsurf host. Such a nice little Peruvian guy. We had a lot of fun, especially with his friend preparing the most famous pisco sour drink (pisco, limes, white egg, sugar) and talking about Peru, politics and life. After two days I left for Colca Canon and meeting amazing people there I spent another two nights in Arequipa…enjoying the nightlife and beauties of the city. My favorite moment was the very last night in the city. We went to a costume party and two of my friends got costumes of Elmo and Cookie monster and then we walked around the main plaza. You should see the faces of little kids and smiles of the adults. Absolutely Amazing.
Two days of intense partying in Arequipa, Peru had to come to an end eventually. I crept out of my room in the craziest party hotel on World – Wild Rover – and headed to the Terminal Terrestre to catch my bus to Puno. The taxi drive was crazy as usual…. every time I drove in taxis here in Peru I had this feeling the driver was trying to kill me, speeding and overtaking where he definitely should not have.
I got my ticket for six-hour drive to Puno for surprisingly low price and I was about to find out why… Do not take me wrong, the standard of Peruvian buses is so much higher than what I am used to. Probably because of the large distances even for a small price you get amazingly comfy seat you can decline almost to a bed position, they have little things to put your legs up and stretch, amazing, truly. The price difference is not that much in equipment of the bus but in people who take it. So whenever you really seek a local experience and bus culture, definitely go for the cheap price. Its worth it if you are interested in six hours of loud Peruvian music and random people getting up, having long speeches about function of digestion and colon (pictures were included) and then trying to sell you random stuff…. well…then this experience is really for you. Bring earplugs, you will enjoy the music very loudly even through them…. seriously…A LOT.
I made it through the bus drive getting to city of Puno in Peruvian shore of Titicaca lake. Original plan was to hang around Puno and see the floating islands, but after meeting plentiful other travelers who saw lake Titicaca and loved the Bolivian shore of it much more I decided to continue to Copacabana, Bolivia. Well that was the second plan. Arriving to Puno very late I assumed there were no more buses to Bolivia because the border was closing early. So i thought maybe I should stay in Puno for one night. Plan three… Well it turned out the Bolivian border was to be closed the following day because the country was going on strike. And turned out there was the last bus to Copacabana right when I arrived to Puno… So plan two again quick change of busses on heading to Bolivia. The bus ride from Puno was amazing. Not just that there was no loud music or people selling you things but the scenery running behind the bus window was stunning. Lake surrounded by fields where the crops were glowing and were being harvested. Tiny villages with women in colorful clothes. Beautiful indeed.
Arrival to Bolivian border half an hour before it closes with three other full buses is not an experience you want to go true. I did. Queuing in two lines getting multiple stamps while the bus drivers run around and hysterically shout at us to go faster. Oh well. One minute before the border closes I finally got all my stamps. The Bolivian customs were some 500 m from Peruvian. I tell you running in 4000 m of elevation with 20 kg bag is not that much fun. Finally we got to the Bolivian office just before they wanted to close. It was me and ten other people in the office. The doors were being closed….. and we were asked for bribe to get the final stamp into our passports to get to the country… Welcome to Bolivia.
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