Bolivia part I: The border between Peru and Copacabana

Hello everyone! I hope that you are doing great and, taking advantage of the fact that it is nearly Easter, I want to tell you about one of the most incredible journeys that of my life.

Do you remember what I said about my journey to Puno? To the longest lake in the world that is shared between Peru and Bolivia? Well, today I want to tell you all the details of the moments that I lived in the highlands, where I found many places that stole my heart and that enriched the way I see life. I did this journey alone, with only the bag on my back; a bag that accompanies me on nearly all of my journeys around the world.

The places you ought to visit in Bolivia

My reasons for travelling through Bolivia stemmed from hosting one of the many travellers that I hosted in Lima, through 'Couchsurfing'. They showed me lots of incredible photos of places that exist in Bolivia and from that very moment, I knew that I had to visit the wonderful country of Bolivia.

So, I gradually started to gather information and looked forward to beginning my adventure to this wonderful country, which I want to share with you as it contains so many wonderful things! The main motive for my travels was 'El Salar de Uyuni', one of the most incredible and natural places that has been naturally created over thousands of years. In this journey I visited some cities in Bolivia and it made me want to get to know new things, and it also surprised me as I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that I wanted to go to Uyuni and from here I wanted to continue travelling towards where I would be able to, in my case, travel for two weeks through the country to the 'Virgen de Copacabana'.

Throughout my trip of Bolivia, I was able to go to the cities of Copacabana, La Paz, Sucre, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and of course, Salar de Uyuni - my favourite!

What is more, my dear friends, I want to tell you that my budget did not exceed 1500 soles, including; flights from Lima to Juliana, a two night stay in Puno, and other days in Bolivia. I went on an adventure! I went backpacking and as I already had some backpacking experience due to some of my travels to the north of Peru and in Cuzco, it meant that I was ready and "blessed", as we say in Peru, to start my adventure to Bolivia.

I remember that my journey started on 1st January 2013. I spent 31 December on the beach in my city with some of my university friends and the following day I left my house in San Martin de Porres towards the Jorge Chaves airport in Lima. To get to the airport, I did not take a taxi as from the minute I left my house I wanted to start to minimise and reduce every one of my costs, despite the fact that a taxi from my house to the airport would not have cost me more than 10 soles to drop me outside the airport. I went in a 'combi' (a small minibus) that takes you to the airport for just one sol. I took my flight to Juliaca using 'Lan Peru' airline and from Juliaca I took a bus that took me to Puno city.

In the city of Puno I visited the centre of the city and the following day, as I have mentioned in other posts, I went to the islands of Uros and Taquiles, where you will find the best weavers in Peru, as stated by UNESCO world cultural heritage.

I returned from the Taquile island and found myself a cheap hostel in Puno, I woke up early the next day at around 6 am in order to cross the border towards Bolivia. It was quite exciting knowing that I was going to a new country! I love hearing new accents that everyone has in Spanish and I think that I can now recognise the Bolivians when I hear them speak.

How can you cross the border from Peru to Bolivia?

The first leg of the journey of my Bolivian adventure was 'lake Titicaca'. From the Peruvian city of Puno, I crossed the border on a bus via a ferry so that I could arrive a Copacabana. To cross the border I had to 'go forward' an hour since Bolivia is located practically in the heart of South America, together with Paraguay.

This was the first time that I crossed the border by land and I must tell you that it was also the first time that I saw how these types of things worked. Prior to this, I had no idea since I had only travelled by plane to Aspen Colorado, United States - where I spent three months in the winter - and the capital of Chile, the city of Santiago where I spent a week.

Just where they made us get out of the coach at the border, I was able to see a sculpture that said 'Peru', so I took a photo to remember it. I took a lot of photos during my travels to Bolivia but now the majority of them have been erased from my computer in Lima, so I can only show you the ones here that I have been able to rescue from my Facebook.

Well, my dear friends, here I show to you the monument, you can't really call it a monument, it is best to call it the word 'Peru', which indicated to me that I was leaving my wonderful country to begin my journey and to get to know my neighbouring country; Bolivia.

This Peru landmark marks the border of the country that gave birth to me

I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to campaign for my country, since the Peru trademark has been one of the most successful in the region. Not that it belittles the other very interesting works that have been done. For example, in Colombia their country trademark 'el riesgo es que te quieras quedar' (the only risk is that you might want to stay). However, the trademark of my country was one of the most successful marketing campaigns that has existed to this day in the whole of South America. For those who do not know Peru, I will tell you that the 'P' has as spiral movement and it represents some of the nazca lines. For example, one of the oldest and most mysterious lines that the Peruvian man has been able to offer the whole world, represents not only the line itself but also many more, since 'Peru' is not only Machu Picchu or Cusco, Peru is a very diverse country and we have many different corners to discover and destinations that everyone will like. Peru is not only the incas, no! We have many other cultures, my dear friends, Peru has the Huari, the Chinchas, the Chimus, the Nazcas, the Chachapoyas, the Huancas, the Mochicas, the Paracas, the Tiahuanaco that we share with Bolivia and many many more. It shows that I love my country? Very much!

Right, let's stop talking about my country and continue to Bolivia. I must tell you that the way in which the 'P' is written in Peru is that we are a country that is constantly moving. A country that looks at the past, present and future and the colour red. It is clear! It represents the marvellous red that forms part of the Peruvian flag in honour of all the Peruvians that have given their lives to create this land; a free and independent country.

When you cross the border, take a photo with the Peru trademark to remember it. I think that it is the only one in my country of that size, at least that I have seen so far. Anyway, the scenery also merits it so I can treasure it and so I was able to share it with every one of you.

Show me your documents, chico!

Like I was telling you, dear friends, when I crossed the border we had to get out of the coach to go through immigration, where we had to show our documents and we had to wait approximately one hour until everyone who was on the bus had made it through the police immigration of both countries.

I met an Australian woman at this this border crossing who had fallen in love with a Peruvian and we became friends on our way to Copacabana, from where they were to continue their journey to the jungle of Bolivia. Well, let me tell you that Bolivia also has a jungle but my destination was an area within the city of La Paz, from where I would continue my journey to 'Uyuni al Salar' (the biggest salt flats in the world).

Well let's continue with my experience. There were some foreigners that had to pay for their visa to enter into Bolivia. The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, had introduced a fee for visas for the those from the United States (I really do not know if this will still be in place). Lucky me, there were some Americans in my bus so we had to wait for them to pay for their visas. They started to complain about their wait and after that they got back on the bus and we were able to continue our journey.

As I was one of the first to go through immigration I was very lucky as while everyone else was waiting I was able to change my money from soles to Bolivian pesos. I don't remember the exact quantity that I had to change but I think that it was nearly 700 new soles, which converted to 1400 Bolivian pesos. I am sure that this exchange helped me a lot during this journey since it felt like I had more money to be able to put into this incredible Bolivian journey.

The first thing I ate in Bolivia was...

After changing my money from Peruvian to Bolivian currency, I approached a woman that was selling Bolivian products from a trolley, which turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my trip and something that some friends of mine had told me to try. Do you know what I am talking about? They can only be refereed to as nothing more and nothing less than Bolivian meat pies. When I started to eat them I fell at her feet, it was something so simple yet so delicious!

The Bolivian meat pies are made with a pastry made of a load of flour, butter, sugar, chilli, egg and the filling is made from ground beef. The filling reminded me a lot of the stuffed potatoes that my mother makes in my house in Lima, but these were also delicious and the thing that I ate most of the time during my stay in Bolivia.

After I had eaten around four at the same time, as if I had not eaten in years, the driver shouted to us that everyone had finished so we could get back on the bus: 'get on the bus everyone! 'And remember to set your watches forward one hour as we are now in Bolivia! ', is what he said to us and I did not hesitate from changing the time on my ancient mobile.

Whilst on the bus I spent a lot of time thinking whilst looking at the scenery. I felt that Bolivia and Peru are very privileged to have Lake Titicaca as it is, without a doubt, one of the many natural wonders for visitors of the country. After that dear friends, we arrived at Copacabana after a couple of hours.

Remember how I told you that I was desperate to arrive at Uyuni, I wanted to arrive so quickly to this wonderful destination that I felt like I had arrived at a fork in the road: I did not know what to do as Copacabana seemed so beautiful, small and perfect to spend a night to rest in one of the hotels. When we arrived and I had said goodbye to the Australian and Peruvian couple, I did not know whether to go straight to La Paz, as at the same time I was saying to myself 'relax, you are on holiday! '. I finally made a plan to stay in Copacabana for one night on my return to Peru, as I had to come the same way to return to Puno to take my flight to Lima. I had to return to work after my trip to Bolivia.

Finally, I decided to take a bus from Copacabana to La Paz but before I got on the bus, (I can't remember how much it cost me but it wasn't much! ), I spent some time walking through Copacabana and it's streets, seeing all of the magic of Bolivia. Everything I saw made me stop and think 'wow, I can't believe it! '. I was walking through a little square where I found a trolley, where there was a man who sold ceviche. Once I heard that he was selling Ceviche, I approached and the look on my face, a Peruvian lover of food looking at one of the tastiest dishes in the world, made me look directly at his stall. I saw that the ceviche was nothing like the ceviche that I knew. Anyway, I was ready to taste new flavors, and as I am sure you have already realised, on this trip I became a lover of the little trolleys and later on I will also tell you how I became a regular customer of every market in the city I visited.

The Bolivian ceviche is made from a fish that is caught in Lake Titicaca. For those who do not know the geography of Bolivia or are reading this post from distant lands, I will tell you that Bolivia does not have access to the sea. In the 19th century Peru and Bolivia had a war with Chile in which Bolivia lost its coastal zone and Peru lost the area of ​​Tacna and Arica. Nevertheless, Peru recovered Tacna but Arica remained as Chilean territory. During my visit to Bolivia, each time I went to the markets, I was also able to see how some of the Bolivians must feel towards the Chileans. I was able to see it the most when I visited Cochabamba, which I will describe in another post.

My thoughts and the day of the 'Bolivian sea'

Today, among this trio of countries there are still territorial disputes between Peru and Chile for a piece of territory called the 'terrestrial triangle'. These dilemmas between the chancelleries of Lima and Santiago de Chile do not seem good at the moment. It must be said, although it hurts sometimes, ignorance is worse and this causes my country to be a little 'anti-Chile'. I am, however, against any kind of discrimination. I think they are without reason and have the sole intention of wanting to distance countries that could still walk hand in hand. In my case, I have Chilean friends with whom I have been able to live when I was in the United States and some that I met whilst in Santiago de Chile. What is more, looking for quarrels between nations is something I do not agree with.

On the other hand, as I am sat here writing this, Bolivia and Chile are in the international court of the Hague for Bolivia to have its territory of the Pacific Ocean returned. Additionally, today in Bolivia, the day of the sea is celebrated every March 23, where the Bolivian government intends to regain sovereign access which they lost in the bloody pacific war that destroyed cities and lives were claimed. One of them was my dear Lima where the Chilean occupation stayed for a duration two years. These are all things that they do not teach us at school in Peru, so I have been reading about the history of Lima and, as you may have already noticed, I am passionate about it! And that's not why I'm a chauvinist or anti-Chilean, on the contrary! I really like Chile and I listen to Violeta Parra as much as the music of the Kjarkas of Bolivia.

On that note, I would like to say that we should not seek to distance ourselves with our brother countries and the best thing we can do is to travel, whenever we have an opportunity as this makes us freer, makes us have unparalleled experiences and dares us to taste delicious things like the Bolivian ceviche I tried in Copacabana. All it took to make me write this was a plate of food!

Taking the bus to La Paz

Whilst I ate my delicious Bolivian ceviche I started to walk through Copacabana and I felt an air as if Copacabana was the mecca of the backpackers, something like the feeling I felt when I crossed the north of Peru, towards the beaches of Mancorá.

The altitude no longer affected me even though Copacabana is almost 3840 meters above sea level. Thanks to my previous days in Puno, I had been able to acclimatise easily and did not feel what is known as "altitude sickness". For those who have done or suffer from this terrible experience of headaches, I recommend buying some pills before arriving to this high city as it can sometimes be quite a shock. If you forget to buy the pills in advance, another thing that helps to relieve the altitude sickness is drinking a delicious mate of coca. It acts like a filter and you can find it in both Peru and Bolivia. Let's take into account that the leaf is an ancient plant in both countries, in case you are unsure!

In addition, dear friends, I will tell you that Copacabana is the starting point for touring the 'Islas del Sol' (Islands of the Sun), which are the largest islands on the lake and remains a Bolivian area. On these islands you will find remains of an Inca presence and if you have an opportunity to go, do not hesitate to do so. I did not go because I had already been to the islands of Uros and Taquile, travelling from the Peruvian side. I thought to myself, however, that I would have to come back to Copacabana to visit 'Islas del Sol', since some of my friends have had the chance to go and they have told me lots of wonderful things about this part of Bolivia.

Inside Copacabana you will find many places to walk and relax without having to spend much money. It is very easy find travel agencies within the main square that give tours and orientation maps to travellers who want to visit the islands and other areas within the city. On the other hand, Bolivia has a Virgin who they worship a lot: one is the Virgin of Oruro, who is the cause for big celebrations; and the other is the Virgin of Copacabana, who is considered the queen of the Bolivian nation. Additionally, in Copacabana there is a route known as the 'ruta del calvario' (the Calvary route). Why is it called this, you ask? Check it out yourself when you go there and tell me! I didn't get a chance to do it but I have planned to do it on my return! However, there were various things that happened during my trip which meant I had to go directly to Juliaca to catch my return flight.

Finally, I arrived at the square where the travel company was to pick me up, and I had to say goodbye to Copacabana so that I could continue my journey to La Paz. La Paz is approximately 150 kilometres from Copacobana. The bus route is a climb and a descent around the hills.

And so, my dear friends, we gradually approached the city of La Paz; one of the cities with the most traffic that I have seen in Bolivia. However, I will tell you all about this journey in the following part of my adventure to this country of highlands.

Thank you very much for reading about my experience. I will see you in the next one!

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