Copacabana, Departamento de La Paz, Bolivia: Bolivia and I got off to a bad start, but I’m still willing to give it some time to win me over.
Apparently rules about visas change with some regularity. From what I read, and was told, I thought I could buy a visa at the border as I did going into Argentina. That was not entirely true.
At the Kisani border crossing we flew through Peruvian emigration and immediately hit a line on the Bolivian side: not a good sign.
When I finally got to the front I learned that I also needed to fill out an application complete with a passport sized photo. I asked the immigration officer if I could cut out the picture from a copy of my passport and was told that wasn’t good enough. I asked him where I could get a picture taken and he told me there was a shop in Copacabana that did them.
I looked the man in the eye and asked him what we were going to do. He had a passport picture on his desk from another application of a pretty Argentine girl. He picked it up and said, “this is you.”
The visa cost bs/360, I have given him 370 but it didn’t seem prudent to quibble over $1.40 in change. After an hour and a bit I got back on the bus and continued on to Copacabana.
At least the road is paved.
***
Copacabana is a fairly rundown resort town. The main source of income is tourism and ferrying visitors to and from Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna. Given that the locals’ livelihood depends on tourism you would think they would be good at it.
La Isla del Sol is beautiful. The lake is a deep blue, the puffy clouds are low over the Andes on the distant shore, and the verdant hills are plowed into gradual terraces.
I took a ferry to the north side of the island and hiked the road that runs the length of the island to the south. It’s only a little over 8km but the beginning is straight uphill. I was walking with a New Zealander and we took a wrong turn at one point and ended up walking through a sheep pasture and potato field.
The south side of the island is more populated and looks like a dilapidated Positano. From the restaurants on the hill I got a great view of La Isla de la Luna.
The next day I visited La Isla de la Luna. It was important to the Incas because it was believed to be from where Wiraqocha controlled the sun and the moon.
The uncommonly disagreeable boat driver gave us 40 minutes to visit the island, as opposed to the hour we were promised.
I sprinted through the temple and snapped a few pictures of the snow capped mountains before we headed back to La Isla del Sol.
After another meal of grilled trout I decided it was time to leave Copacabana.
elizabethboconnell 