COPACOBANA

the trip from puno to COPACOBANA in Bolivia just took about 4 hours. after getting to the border and having to wait for a transport to pick us up, the french guys just all of a sudden left without saying even bye. strange but i could laugh about it. these two were just very special and not knowing better, i would have thought that they were gay. well, their strange way of just jumping on a truck to get faster to copacobana caused big laughter of the rest of the travellers and through this i got to know 2 very nice dutch girls, samantha and tamara, who also were on the boat trip the day before. i wasn´t really sure yet whether to stay a night in copacobana or to straight travel on to la paz. coming to COPACOBANA, the nice and charming atmosphere of the small layed back town was very inviting. somehow it seemed a lot more relaxed and authentic than the places i have seen in peru. although it also had quite a turistic infrastructure with a lot of hotels and restaurants, it just felt nicer and also the natives were a lot friendlier. since the dutch girls stayed one night, i decided to do so as well. we also got to know some english guys and spend a really nice afternoon and night in copacobana. it was fantastic to enjoy another sunset on top of a mountain, this time having all the bolivian part of lake titicaca below and in front of me! since there was a strike (there are almost every day strikes in bolivia and it happens quite often that travellers are just being stucked in their buses for more than 25 hours!!!!), there was no possibility of going to la paz that day anyway, so i decided right :-). unfortunatly there wasn´t any cash machine and also no possibility of changing traveller cheques in copacobana since it was friday night. but with the help of the dutch girls we somehow managed to change some dollars. i didn´t expect anything from copacobana and ended up liking it a lot. sometimes it´s good to just go and see and although there isn´t really a lot to do, it was definatly worth it to stay one night. sam, tam and i decided to not visit the islands of lake titicaca on bolivian side since they are supposed to be very similar or less special to the owns we saw on peruian side. instead we took a bus (yes, the strike was over!!!) to la paz early the next morning.

LA PAZ

wow, there we were, back to city life! LA PAZ, translated "the freedom" didn´t really reflected what the name expresses. a bustling, chaotic, loud and overcrowded big city. it took us some time before getting used to the rythm and to not just be absorbed by it. after so much nature it definalty was a small shock to come there. the nice thing was to finally be able to take a nice and warm (!) shower which we wern´t able to during the last days. i got a room with my own bathroom in a farely nice hotel compared to where we were staying the nights before and after a long warm shower including all beauty treatments which i had lacked the last days ;-), i was ready to enter and explore LA PAZ! well, almost ready. i had a small problem: no money and a credit card that all of a sudden wasn´t accepted anymore by the cash machines. paying with credit card is almost impossible in "underdeveloped" la paz and since it was saturday, there also wasn´t any possibility for changing traveller checks. all i had left were a few argentinian pesos which i changed, but that was it. and that "it" was definately not enough to bring me to chile, my next planned trip. good that i at least knew the dutch girls who would have helped me out. well, i tried to think positive and to not let it ruin my day when all of a sudden, trying the 6th cash machine in town, i finally got out money. i could have shouted out of happiness when hearing the "ticaticatica"-sound of the cash machine when counting the money. not the best idea in the middle of downtown LA PAZ when taking out money! anyway, my day was saved and my mood as well!

i enjoyed walking around in the city by myself, had lunch (empanadas) on a bench of a nice square being starred at from the locals, explored the non-tourisitic neighbourhoods (also there -being blond- i sticked out a lot) and finally had cafe in a nice student cafe close to the university. at night i met sam and tam and we had dinner in a very typical bolivian place where we were the only tourists, which arroused quite some interest. we observed the locals and they observed us but both in a nice way and with a smile on the face! afterwards we went to a cozy bar, owned by dutch people and filled with travellers from all over the world. entering the bar you left la paz and bolivia outside. we enjoyed the international atmosphere and music after having been travelling for such a long time and being so far away from our own country and culture. the next morning i visited some of sunday markets in the center. well actually whole la paz is one big market, especially on weekends. people really sell everything on the street! from bags to cloth, fruits to meat, sunglasses to cds and electronical equipment, shampoo, toiletpaper, creme and even toilets and showers you could buy on the street. since there aren´t any "shopping malls" or supermarkets except for some very small stores and pharmacies, people sell and buy everything on the streets and streetmarkets. i bought a very nice white poncho for only 2 euros! shopping somehow was fun especially since the prices were redicully low.

•  
• • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
• Siguiente 

¿Has estado en este lugar y quieres publicar un relato?