Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia, 170 miles
Leaving Puno, like most towns, was a bit of a struggle. As soon as we exited the town, we were back to beautiful countryside with on and off views of Lake Titicaca. More mossy green mountains, llamas, brilliant blue skies. No steep mountains, just a gradual climb. The air was crisp, so even with all my layers on, and my electric vest running, you could still feel the nippy breeze.
Before we knew it, we had reached the Peru and Bolivia border crossing. The miles go by really quickly on the roads the last couple of days as they are straight and because of the thin air, I discovered that you do not feel the wind pushing against you very strong. Usually at 70mph+ I start to feel uncomfortable and jolted around, but up here where the air is thin, you literally don’t feel the wind push you around at all, it is quite comfortable. Interesting, I definitely didn’t expect such a difference, glad my body is getting enough oxygen!!! We noticed that Yoshita gets better mileage in the high mountains too; my guess is because she doesn’t have as much wind resistance to push against her.
The first stop at the border crossing was to get our passports exited by Peru. Done in a snap! A stamp and that was it. Next stop was the bike exportation. This one usually is the killer, but after a really great conversation between Mike and the senor and about 5 minutes later we had our paperwork and we’re on our way; amazing! On the Bolivian side it was a very easy form, stamp on the passport and a quick and painless bike important process, all about 10 minutes. Mike walked out of the last building with a smile on his face and I couldn’t believe that we were already done! The fastest and most friendly border crossing yet! This one makes Central America look even uglier. Welcome to Bolivia!
The road turned into rough dirt as we entered, and Mike commented that he had heard the roads in Bolivia were not so good, so I was prepared, but to our pleasant surprise, as soon as we left the border crossing town we were back on really nicely paved road winding along besides Lake Titicaca.
The sky got even more brilliant, with bright blue skies and giant white clouds. Up in the distance you could see snow capped mountains. Just like in Peru, there were plenty of dogs wandering the land, but all looked well taken care of.
Before entering La Paz we stopped to look at the map to see if we could conger up a plan of attack. One glance at the very large and confusing map of the city and we thought it best to enter and just find a hotel ourselves as we come across them. To get to La Paz you have to go through another very large and fast growing town that was quite madness. Honking, constant traffic and chaos; not fun on the motorcycle and to make matters worse Mike’s wrist had been bothering him all day (I guess he better slow down on his Beast Skills). After winding through packed and noisy streets we finally got directed towards La Paz which is set in a bowl shaped valley. Once we turned the corner we knew we were there. It was beautiful, literally shaped like a giant bowl and lined with red brick buildings. In the horizon you could see snow capped mountains. Making our way down into the bowl took some time, but once we got there the headache began. SO much traffic, madness, no order, pushing people weaving between the cars, more honks than you could imagine and yet to get from one block to another, you move at turtle pace. The road in showed us no hotels at all, we tried following the map for a bit but that took us through some very steep hills full of traffic. Mike’ss wrist only got worse and his patience thin along with it. There are moments, when you feel you can’t push yourself any further, but realize that if you don’t, then you’ll be nowhere, so you keep pushing yourself to a point where you have no energy or patience left…yet still when the f-yous hit you, you take them, because you have to. Well, our journey through La Paz, with Mike’s badly hurt wrist having to maneuver the bike through traffic and push the bike’s clutch to it’s limit, was one of those instances. Once we found some hotels, they were all parked on steep hills with no parking for the bike. Finally we discovered a run down hotel with a place to put Yoshita, but the rooms don’t have private baths. I didn’t feel I had much of a say as Mike’s wrist was almost done for, so I sucked it up and brought everything to the room. The bed is sunken in and doesn’t have any sort of cushioning; okay, doable. The bathrooms another story. Two of the three toilets had nastiness lining the bowls and they looked like they haven’t been cleaned since they built this very old building. The showers are dark, dingy, smelly, moldy caves with those shower heads that you hope you don’t get electrocuted on and produce the slightest warmth to the freezing cold water (and yet the hope of any warmth failed us when we used them). Not the nicest thing to call your home for the night after such a long and chilly day. To make matters worse, it was that time of the month for me and I just prayed that I didn’t have to use the facilities much.
All the stress and filth got the best of me. As soon as I had put everything down and had a seat to breathe, I had a mini breakdown. I just needed to let out some of the stress from the day and frustration for where I ended up. I was dying of thirst, we didn’t have any Bolivian money yet to even buy water or toilet paper to use the dirty facilities and the noise from the street didn’t make me want to have to venture out there; loud, chaotic and stressful. Mike was a sweetheart and made a long journey to find a bank, and then some water, toilet paper and soap. The water cooled my mood down and next was to find somewhere to eat.
I picked the nicest sounding place in the book and we took a very long taxi ride to that location. The distance wasn’t far, but this place is madness with the worst traffic! I didn’t mind being in the traffic in the back of the taxi, with nothing to worry about, as I got to take in the city without having to huff and puff (harder to breathe and walk around in this high of altitude) to see the city.
Our restaurant was a gem, a savoir and a sanctuary. We entered the lovely Austrian place to the sounds of classical music. As we got there 30 minutes before it opened we enjoyed some beverages and potato chips; all so delicious. They actually make a very tasty beer here. The music, the ice cold beer and delicious water were just what the doctor ordered. Our meal was served by at least 5 different hosts and we were the only people there. Wonderful service, beautiful building and delicious German food. Yes, this is truly the nicest restaurant in La Paz (1.5 million people) and the total bill was $15! Bolivia is treating us well.
The taxi ride back was another adventure in itself, no one wanted to drive us to the other end of town. As soon as we peered our heads into the taxis and said ‘Plaza Aquino’ the drivers would just speed off! After about 10 taxis we finally ran across a kind enough soul to drive us back to our hotel; even more traffic, constant traffic, no rhyme or reason to it.
We attempted to walk around the extremely crazy hectic streets around our hotel in hopes to post our blog, but every single internet shop didn’t want us to ‘plug in’ our laptop; crazy people. The noise, honking and chaos outside didn’t die down at all through the night, it calmed down for about 3 hours from 1AM to 4AM, then went back to its madness.
Boliviano Clandestino
Before we knew it, we had reached the Peru and Bolivia border crossing. The miles go by really quickly on the roads the last couple of days as they are straight and because of the thin air, I discovered that you do not feel the wind pushing against you very strong. Usually at 70mph+ I start to feel uncomfortable and jolted around, but up here where the air is thin, you literally don’t feel the wind push you around at all, it is quite comfortable. Interesting, I definitely didn’t expect such a difference, glad my body is getting enough oxygen!!! We noticed that Yoshita gets better mileage in the high mountains too; my guess is because she doesn’t have as much wind resistance to push against her.
The first stop at the border crossing was to get our passports exited by Peru. Done in a snap! A stamp and that was it. Next stop was the bike exportation. This one usually is the killer, but after a really great conversation between Mike and the senor and about 5 minutes later we had our paperwork and we’re on our way; amazing! On the Bolivian side it was a very easy form, stamp on the passport and a quick and painless bike important process, all about 10 minutes. Mike walked out of the last building with a smile on his face and I couldn’t believe that we were already done! The fastest and most friendly border crossing yet! This one makes Central America look even uglier. Welcome to Bolivia!
The road turned into rough dirt as we entered, and Mike commented that he had heard the roads in Bolivia were not so good, so I was prepared, but to our pleasant surprise, as soon as we left the border crossing town we were back on really nicely paved road winding along besides Lake Titicaca.
The sky got even more brilliant, with bright blue skies and giant white clouds. Up in the distance you could see snow capped mountains. Just like in Peru, there were plenty of dogs wandering the land, but all looked well taken care of.
Before entering La Paz we stopped to look at the map to see if we could conger up a plan of attack. One glance at the very large and confusing map of the city and we thought it best to enter and just find a hotel ourselves as we come across them. To get to La Paz you have to go through another very large and fast growing town that was quite madness. Honking, constant traffic and chaos; not fun on the motorcycle and to make matters worse Mike’s wrist had been bothering him all day (I guess he better slow down on his Beast Skills). After winding through packed and noisy streets we finally got directed towards La Paz which is set in a bowl shaped valley. Once we turned the corner we knew we were there. It was beautiful, literally shaped like a giant bowl and lined with red brick buildings. In the horizon you could see snow capped mountains. Making our way down into the bowl took some time, but once we got there the headache began. SO much traffic, madness, no order, pushing people weaving between the cars, more honks than you could imagine and yet to get from one block to another, you move at turtle pace. The road in showed us no hotels at all, we tried following the map for a bit but that took us through some very steep hills full of traffic. Mike’ss wrist only got worse and his patience thin along with it. There are moments, when you feel you can’t push yourself any further, but realize that if you don’t, then you’ll be nowhere, so you keep pushing yourself to a point where you have no energy or patience left…yet still when the f-yous hit you, you take them, because you have to. Well, our journey through La Paz, with Mike’s badly hurt wrist having to maneuver the bike through traffic and push the bike’s clutch to it’s limit, was one of those instances. Once we found some hotels, they were all parked on steep hills with no parking for the bike. Finally we discovered a run down hotel with a place to put Yoshita, but the rooms don’t have private baths. I didn’t feel I had much of a say as Mike’s wrist was almost done for, so I sucked it up and brought everything to the room. The bed is sunken in and doesn’t have any sort of cushioning; okay, doable. The bathrooms another story. Two of the three toilets had nastiness lining the bowls and they looked like they haven’t been cleaned since they built this very old building. The showers are dark, dingy, smelly, moldy caves with those shower heads that you hope you don’t get electrocuted on and produce the slightest warmth to the freezing cold water (and yet the hope of any warmth failed us when we used them). Not the nicest thing to call your home for the night after such a long and chilly day. To make matters worse, it was that time of the month for me and I just prayed that I didn’t have to use the facilities much.
All the stress and filth got the best of me. As soon as I had put everything down and had a seat to breathe, I had a mini breakdown. I just needed to let out some of the stress from the day and frustration for where I ended up. I was dying of thirst, we didn’t have any Bolivian money yet to even buy water or toilet paper to use the dirty facilities and the noise from the street didn’t make me want to have to venture out there; loud, chaotic and stressful. Mike was a sweetheart and made a long journey to find a bank, and then some water, toilet paper and soap. The water cooled my mood down and next was to find somewhere to eat.
I picked the nicest sounding place in the book and we took a very long taxi ride to that location. The distance wasn’t far, but this place is madness with the worst traffic! I didn’t mind being in the traffic in the back of the taxi, with nothing to worry about, as I got to take in the city without having to huff and puff (harder to breathe and walk around in this high of altitude) to see the city.
Our restaurant was a gem, a savoir and a sanctuary. We entered the lovely Austrian place to the sounds of classical music. As we got there 30 minutes before it opened we enjoyed some beverages and potato chips; all so delicious. They actually make a very tasty beer here. The music, the ice cold beer and delicious water were just what the doctor ordered. Our meal was served by at least 5 different hosts and we were the only people there. Wonderful service, beautiful building and delicious German food. Yes, this is truly the nicest restaurant in La Paz (1.5 million people) and the total bill was $15! Bolivia is treating us well.
The taxi ride back was another adventure in itself, no one wanted to drive us to the other end of town. As soon as we peered our heads into the taxis and said ‘Plaza Aquino’ the drivers would just speed off! After about 10 taxis we finally ran across a kind enough soul to drive us back to our hotel; even more traffic, constant traffic, no rhyme or reason to it.
We attempted to walk around the extremely crazy hectic streets around our hotel in hopes to post our blog, but every single internet shop didn’t want us to ‘plug in’ our laptop; crazy people. The noise, honking and chaos outside didn’t die down at all through the night, it calmed down for about 3 hours from 1AM to 4AM, then went back to its madness.
The open road
Another look at the highest lake in the world
Entering Bolivia was a breeze. We like it better than Peru already!
Adios Lago de Titcaca-poopoo
Lots of beautiful scenary today
Our first view of La Paz
Boliviano Clandestino
Fine dining in La Paz? You bet! Cheap too!
posted by Pedro and Maria at 1:07 PM
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