Today we took off early in a luxury bus to make the border crossing into Bolivia. We got a bit of a shock as the driver emphasised how important it was to produce the tourist entry card which we’d filled in on the plane arriving into Peru – I’d kept this but Laura hadn’t. Fortunately, and perhaps predictably you could pay to overcome this problem, and Laura lucked out as the official in charge of people who’d lost their landing cards was incredibly nice, going out of his way to help her queue-jump so we could be on our way.
The Bolivian side of the Lake immediately felt different (although this may have been in our minds), more peaceful and scenic. Our first stop was Copacabana, prompting some predictable Barry Manilow comments from me. The town itself was small and comfortably geared up for backpackers, who were there in abundance wearing Llama colourful clothing and listening to Bob Marley in ethnic-themed cafes – the lingua franca of water-oriented tourism.
A station of the cross - one of 14
the dolores (pains) of Christ
We settled into a nice hostel with friendly, chatty staff who helped us along with our Spanish, then went for a wander up the hill overlooking the town, featuring 14 stations of the cross - large cruxifixes with dedications on them periodically set on a winding path up a steep (naturally) hill. At the top were further monuments depicting crucial stages in the crucifixion story, and a great view over the bay.
illicit photo of the inside of Copa Cathedral
Cholita vendors outside the Cathedral
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