Back to Copa for a few more days

After our day and night out on the beautiful Isla Del Sol, we returned to Copacabana from the Southern part of the island.  The boat ride was slow, just like on the way out there, but the weather was gorgeous.  We met a woman from Venezuela, and a man from Australia on the boat ride, and talked travel, and (her) mountain climbing ventures.

Back on mainland, we returned to our hostel "Sonia" for another couple nights, and decided to relax a bit after our long walk on the island, that sort of wore us out.

We found "Mauraz" restaurant right on the main strip by the lake, and had an excellent lunch there, for an excellent price.  We returned for dinner the next night, and really recommend them.  Apparently a newer place, they offer a bit of everything, and had amazing cappuccino's, which hooked us from the get go.

After doing some much needed clothes shopping, (I needed some pants, and found an awesome Bolivia football jersey), we found a little bar on the main strip as well, called "Nemos."  They offered a couple different micro beers from La Paz, in bottles, which were quite good, and we just threw it out there that we play live music, and wanted to know if we could jam there...

The bartender put us in for the following night, and we showed up at 6 to do a sound check with the guitars.  We came back at 9:30, and rocked the house.  From about 5 people there at the start, to about 60 or so when I looked up a little while later, we had a blast, and played for 2 hours.  It's been a while since we played for a crowd like that, and that was just what we needed to get back into the groove.  Hopefully more of that to come, soon!

We finished our set at about 11:30, hung around for a bit, and walked back to Hostal Sonia to go to bed...As we approached the hostel, it was completely boarded shut, with metal barricades.  Now, sometimes, a hostel will close the doors early, and come open up when they hear a knock, but after 20 minutes of banging and literally kicking the door, nobody showed...We were getting a little worried, for that was our home base, and housed all of our stuff, and I took out my knife and began to try and pick open the window lock.  No luck.  Tried prying it open as well with no luck, so we walked around the back side of the building, and found a very small window open, over the kitchen.  Danica climbed in with no problem, and I handed her the 2 guitar bags.  I am pretty tall, and it took me a bit of stretching and straining to fit, but I did it.  Absolutely ridiculous that at midnight, nobody is there to open the hostel door.  What a great way to ruin your business.  Thanks Sonia, you won't  get my good review!  Once inside, still, nobody heard a thing, and as we went to go upstairs we wanted some water and chips from the glass case...Locked, of course, and picking the lock was no use, neither was trying to find the key...Oh well.  We loved Copacabana, and it couldn't have been a better place to welcome us to Bolivia!  See you next time...

Another 2 days in Copa, and we must move on down the road to the famed La Paz...

Bienvenidos a Boliva!

We did a little research on buses from Cusco to the border, and further...

The hostel we stayed at in Cusco had a travel agency next door, and the owner recommended talking to them...Turns out they book buses to Boliva from Cusco, and we found out they go "direct" to Copacabana as well, where we wanted to go.

We purchased our tickets for 70 Soles/piece, and jumped on the bus that night, from the Terminal Terrestre in Cusco.

The company was called "Trans Salvador" and as we boarded, we found it to have the most comfortable seats of any bus thus far!  Being a night bus, we were pretty excited to get some sleep, and we did just that.

I woke up at about 5am to the sun rising over Lake Titicaca near the border.  It was incredible.

(photo hardly does it justice...)

All of a sudden a woman came up to us and said "Copacabana?"  Turns out we were the only ones heading there, and the bus wasn't direct, as it was ultimately heading to La Paz...

We were then dropped off in the middle of the desert, and waited for a bit until another bus pulled up, and dropped off about 6 more people also heading to Copacabana.

We then all boarded a collectivo van, and headed to the border, which was about 20 mins away.

Bolivian Border Crossing for US citizens:

I feel this info I will input here will be of much help to US citizens crossing into Bolivia...

We had been trying to research this for some time, and always got different answers about cost, and what is needed to enter Bolivia.  One web page stated it was $180/person to enter Boliva, while a fellow traveler told us it was only $75.

As of the date of this post, Bolivian officials charge US citizens $135 CASH.  You may not use a credit card, and no, they do not accept Bolivianos nor Soles.  We were prepared, as we found an ATM in Cusco that dispensed US cash.  We entered the border crossing at about 7am, and there was hardly anyone there, so it went fast.

Also, they DID NOT ASK for our Yellow Fever vaccinations, which we did have proof of.  Not sure if we'll need them as we exit into Chile down the road, but it wasn't required for us to enter, as we thought otherwise...Still glad we have them though...

We had to fill out the normal immigration form that everyone needs to do, and also a VISA form, that only took about 5 minutes.  They stamped our passports with a Bolivian entrance stamp as well as a sticker, valid for 5 years, saying we paid.  90 days is the length of time we got, just like every other country so far.  Very simple it was, and a lot easier than we thought!  Hope this helps!

On the other side of the border, we jumped into another collectivo van, with the other 6 people crossing, and were in Copacabana in about 10 minutes.

Copacabana is a gorgeous, awesome little town, with the lake in the background.  It's a little touristy, bot not 'in your face,' and very enjoyable.  We met Mark and Carlie for breakfast that morning,  and took a sunset cruise with them, out onto the lake. Besides being dirt cheap to charter a boat, Titicaca has proven to have some of the most incredible sunsets, ever!