No WiFi in Copa so this is from an internet cafe, thus no pictures and bad punctuation. Sorry!
Arrived in Copacabana Monday afternoon after a bit of drama with the bus at 8am. My transfer was supposed to pick me up at the hostel between 7:15-7:30 and take me to the bus station. At 7:35 I asked the front desk guy if it was normal for them to be late. No. He looked at my ticket (purchased through a travel agency and didnt list which bus company I was supposed to take) he made a few phone calls, then told me he´d be right back. 10 minutes later it's 7:45 and he hasnt come back. I grab my backpacks and dart to the main street to hail a cab and tell him muy rapido, por favor. (I was traveling solo as Judith had bought her ticket already through an agency at home and had a separate transfer).
I get to the bus station 5 minutes to 8 and start asking every bus kiosko if my ticket works for them. As I'm trying to find the right office, an elderly Boliviana woman sticks her hand in my face asking me for money. My water bottle is falling out of the side pocket of my backpack, the bag of granola I have for the bus is also on the floor. Meanwhile I'm trying to find out in Spanish where my bus is and everyone is pointing in different directions. The only word I could get out at the begging woman was NO. Felt like a Seinfeld episode.
Finally find the right office, and the lady tells me, calm down! No problem. Bus leaves at 8:30 and your hostel called. Just wait. I wait. And wait. Just as I decide to put my heavy ass backpack down, one of the workers calls me over and tells me to wait outside the bus station, where he will meet me. And not to tell anyone. Hmm. Ok. I walk outside amid the crazy La Paz bus and taxi traffic and spot 2 of the other backpackers from the same bus office. I ask them if they're also waiting for this shady bus guy. Yep, they laugh. Finally the man comes running over to us and tells us to follow him. We walk about 10 minutes away from the bus station, me trying to keep up, cursing my backpack and everything in it. Finally get to the bus, which looks like it's circa 1982 and named "Freedom" (yeah, Dad!). Get the last real seat in the front, and the other 2 guys are forced to sit jumpseat with the driver. Meet Judith at the tourist info office in Copa as planned, tell her how glad I am to see her, and we settle on a decent hostel which happens to have a great breakfast but no heat. And it gets pretty cold at night. Another night of sleeping in all my clothes.
The rest of Monday was spent walking around the little town, which has a really unique cathedral that reminds me of Park Guell in Barcelona with all the colors and tiles. We then hiked up a hill to see the Asiento del Inca, basically some rock formations and a great view of the city. The altitude killed us so we laid in the sun at the top of the hill for a while until we got hungry and ventured down to the beach. Got solicited by a man offering 2x1 happy hour and we sipped mojitos, snacked on olives and cheese, popcorn (didn't know that was what palmitos de maiz was!) and a chicken sandwhich. Then it was time to climb the other big hill in town, the Calvario, to catch the sunset over Lake Titicaca. Was a hell of a hike as the one mojito had quite the effect due to the altitude, sun and lack of sleep I had the night before (couldn't sleep as I had started thinking of REAL LIFE - ugh). Anyway, we made it to the top just in time, snapped some pictures of the cemetary at the top and the bright full moon and then headed to dinner at La Cupula, highly rated in the guidebooks. My trout in caper sauce and quinoa salad was amazing and the price was even better (about $7). The bottle of Bolivian Sav Blanc was not so good but we drank it anyway. Definitely one of the better meals I've had.
Tuesday morning we woke up early for our day hike of La Isla del Sol, an hour and a half boat ride away. Saw some Incan Ruins, including a labyrinth (man they were short!), and hiked the whole of the island, from the North to the South end. Took about 4 hours. Saw and heard lots of animals, from donkeys to sheep to cows and pigs. Really pretty views and a difficult but enjoyable hike. Made it back to Copa in time for happy hour again, where we got more mojitos for our hard work. Then shopped around a bit at the artisinal markets and picked up more insanely cheap local goods. Then it was dinner time and we found this cute looking restaurant we had seen the day before, walked in completely blind as we didn't know anything about it except it had a cute patio. We were the only ones there, and the workers were sitting watching TV. The owner man came running over to us, told us to sit, and we grabbed the table closest to the stone oven and asked him to light the fire. After a few minutes of lighting newspaper and blowing through a long PVC pipe, the fire was started, the TV turned off and music switched on. No running water in the bathroom made me a bit nervous but Judith told me it would be okay. Look how nice the restaurant is! she exclaimed. We ordered the local dishes, Pique Macho and a Criolla Salad. The next few minutes we saw the owner's 10 year old daughter run in an out of the restaurant, buying napkins and who knows what other missing ongredients for us. A dog also made its way in and out of the restaurant and kitchen. I'll repeat ,yself, Bolivia is not for the faint fo heart.
The bread was fresh and the salsa spicy, so that qualmed my fears about the upcming meal a bit as well. The salad was amazing, with quinoa, funky beans I don't know the name of, olives, peanuts, sweet potato, regular potato, tomatoes, red pepper, papaya and corn. The Pique Macho had too-tough meat that I had one bite of, sausage I didn't enjoy, but of course the vegetables were great. More potatoes, onions, tomatoes, olives. A bit too salty so we couldn't finish the dish. But both were reminiscent of peasant fare. Hearty, local and filling. We were in bed by 10:30, all our layers on again, expecting to take the bus today to Puno, on the Peruvian side of the Lake.
As we're checking out, 3 German backpackers are at the reception, telling us their horror story of crossing the border at night. They tell us to wait a few days, it's not good right now. Their bus dropped them off in the middle of nowhere, they walked 2 hours with their backpacks until the found a cab, and made it across the border. The Peruvian side is protesting because of a planned mine that would contaminate their water source. We've know about trouble at the border for a while now, but it opens every day or so, and most people get across just fine. So Judith and I went to the Tourist Information office and he tells us no buses are running at all today. We may be able to catch the boat tomorrow morning, but that's 10 hours and no bathroom (as opposed to 3 hours by bus). Now we're looking at returning to La Paz and either flying to Peru or going back through Chile. Neither sounds great, so we're going to stick in Copa for a day to see if the protest is resolved by tomorrow. Topday is supposedly their Day of Solution. The Tourist Info guy said it could take a month for the border to reopen and the boat may be our best option. That or flying from La Paz. But tickets are looking like more than $300. Oh the woes of traveling South America. Every day is another adventure.
Mom/Dad - I'll keep you posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment