A very scenic bus ride to La Paz was our reward for that horrible night’s sleep in Copa. High, snow-covered peaks, great views of the lake and open fields for miles dotted with mud brick houses. At one point we had to get off the bus to cross to the other side of Lake Titicaca. The wooden, rinky dink barge that the bus went on twisted with the weight, but somehow made it with everyone’s packs. Our trusty launch, barely went faster than idle speed, but made it safely across as well.
Back on the bus for a short hour or so into traffic choked and smog laden La Paz. It was Sunday and everybody and their brother’s sister were out shopping and traveling around the big 1.5 million person city. Upon arrival, the bus descended sharply to the actual city situated in the valley below. It looked like a kid’s toy block city, with every available inch of space clustered with buildings, people and buses.
The bus dropped us off on some road that happened to be where we wanted to look for a place to stay. After a few rather expensive enquiries, we settled, dumped our packs and caught a local bus (no, we really had no idea where we were headed even after asking a local vendor how to get to that certain part of town) to a restaurant that Rachel had picked out in our trusty Lonely Planet. After about 20 minutes and a bit of wonderment as to our location, we spotted a street sign that told us we had gotten to our destination. Within a street or two.
Another enquiry within the supermarket, (the name had changed, hence our confusion) we found our restaurant for a great burger and fries. And yes it was good. Sometimes you just need that food like home.
Returning to our hostel, we desperately wanted a shower. Having been told from other travelers about the funny showers in Bolivia, we couldn’t figure it out. Peru was straight forward like home. 2 handles, hot and cold, full force out of the head. Not so in Bolivian electric showers.
With help from reception, we got our trickle of hot water. Tricky because; two wires looking like jumper leads, connected in 4 spots ran out from the wall to the shower head, which was operated by the big fuse box switch just outside the shower stall. Hmmm....electricity and water...guess that’s why the shower handle was taped with electrical tape! Rachel still managed to shock herself once.
Well you cannot turn the shower on full force or it just goes ice cold. A little finesse, only a quarter turn to on...and voila...you have scorching hot water or a bit more and it’s ice cold again. Don’t touch the sink tap or flush the toilet or the whole process has to be repeated again. Maybe even reset the breaker with wet hands. We’ve managed so far, but it is cold day or night in our room, so the after-shower dance is quite funny to watch. Especially with the prospect of multiple day old clothes.
Monday in La Paz and our usual dilemma....what to do? Looking ahead at our time frame and distance left to cover, what countries to visit and things to see....hmmm...
We really want to do some part of the jungle and see some wildlife. Everything is so beautiful, but no animals. We enquired about some trips in Bolivia and the Amazon back in Peru, but cost and distance to travel/get there put a damper on those plans. Frankly, the options available seemed too cookie cutter for the money.
So with a wild hair we legged it to the Brazilian consulate in La Paz to see about getting a visa so that we could visit the Pantanal region that borders Bolivia/Brazil/Uruguay. Supposed to be loaded with more diversity of wildlife and opportunity to spot them than in the Amazon. We missed their hours by 30 minutes. So we planned to get up early and wait outside their doors at 0900 on Tuesday to about obtaining a Brazilian visa.
We wandered around the city actually enjoying the hustle and bustle of the streets. Vendors, businessmen, students, beggars, a few travelers and there and everything, under the sun, available for cheap. Tired, we retired for the night with our LP´s to continue planning. Not to a good night’s sleep as some damn street band played outside our window until 0300. Oh, the joys of travel....
The embassy opened and we had as much as we thought we needed. But, we needed more. The man behind the glass was very friendly, told us exactly what else we needed to copy, etc... Off we went and returned for a quick approval and off again to make our payment to the local Brazilian bank in $USD. Back again and we received our pick up slip for Thursday with our visa and passports ready to go. Hopefully all goes well, as Wednesday is Brazilian Independence Day; hence the consulate will be closed.
So with another spare day in La Paz, we signed up for the infamous mountain bike ride down The World’s Most Dangerous Road (WMDR). www.gravitybolivia.com has all the information about our ride. It is sure to be a blast!!
After our WMDR ride on Wednesday and upon collecting our Brazilian visas on Thursday, we are looking to fly out of La Paz on Friday, east to the Bolivian border town of Puerto Suarez and cross into Brazil there to hunt down a guide for our Pantanal tour.
http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/9175.html
Back on the bus for a short hour or so into traffic choked and smog laden La Paz. It was Sunday and everybody and their brother’s sister were out shopping and traveling around the big 1.5 million person city. Upon arrival, the bus descended sharply to the actual city situated in the valley below. It looked like a kid’s toy block city, with every available inch of space clustered with buildings, people and buses.
The bus dropped us off on some road that happened to be where we wanted to look for a place to stay. After a few rather expensive enquiries, we settled, dumped our packs and caught a local bus (no, we really had no idea where we were headed even after asking a local vendor how to get to that certain part of town) to a restaurant that Rachel had picked out in our trusty Lonely Planet. After about 20 minutes and a bit of wonderment as to our location, we spotted a street sign that told us we had gotten to our destination. Within a street or two.
Another enquiry within the supermarket, (the name had changed, hence our confusion) we found our restaurant for a great burger and fries. And yes it was good. Sometimes you just need that food like home.
Returning to our hostel, we desperately wanted a shower. Having been told from other travelers about the funny showers in Bolivia, we couldn’t figure it out. Peru was straight forward like home. 2 handles, hot and cold, full force out of the head. Not so in Bolivian electric showers.
With help from reception, we got our trickle of hot water. Tricky because; two wires looking like jumper leads, connected in 4 spots ran out from the wall to the shower head, which was operated by the big fuse box switch just outside the shower stall. Hmmm....electricity and water...guess that’s why the shower handle was taped with electrical tape! Rachel still managed to shock herself once.
Well you cannot turn the shower on full force or it just goes ice cold. A little finesse, only a quarter turn to on...and voila...you have scorching hot water or a bit more and it’s ice cold again. Don’t touch the sink tap or flush the toilet or the whole process has to be repeated again. Maybe even reset the breaker with wet hands. We’ve managed so far, but it is cold day or night in our room, so the after-shower dance is quite funny to watch. Especially with the prospect of multiple day old clothes.
Monday in La Paz and our usual dilemma....what to do? Looking ahead at our time frame and distance left to cover, what countries to visit and things to see....hmmm...
We really want to do some part of the jungle and see some wildlife. Everything is so beautiful, but no animals. We enquired about some trips in Bolivia and the Amazon back in Peru, but cost and distance to travel/get there put a damper on those plans. Frankly, the options available seemed too cookie cutter for the money.
So with a wild hair we legged it to the Brazilian consulate in La Paz to see about getting a visa so that we could visit the Pantanal region that borders Bolivia/Brazil/Uruguay. Supposed to be loaded with more diversity of wildlife and opportunity to spot them than in the Amazon. We missed their hours by 30 minutes. So we planned to get up early and wait outside their doors at 0900 on Tuesday to about obtaining a Brazilian visa.
We wandered around the city actually enjoying the hustle and bustle of the streets. Vendors, businessmen, students, beggars, a few travelers and there and everything, under the sun, available for cheap. Tired, we retired for the night with our LP´s to continue planning. Not to a good night’s sleep as some damn street band played outside our window until 0300. Oh, the joys of travel....
The embassy opened and we had as much as we thought we needed. But, we needed more. The man behind the glass was very friendly, told us exactly what else we needed to copy, etc... Off we went and returned for a quick approval and off again to make our payment to the local Brazilian bank in $USD. Back again and we received our pick up slip for Thursday with our visa and passports ready to go. Hopefully all goes well, as Wednesday is Brazilian Independence Day; hence the consulate will be closed.
So with another spare day in La Paz, we signed up for the infamous mountain bike ride down The World’s Most Dangerous Road (WMDR). www.gravitybolivia.com has all the information about our ride. It is sure to be a blast!!
After our WMDR ride on Wednesday and upon collecting our Brazilian visas on Thursday, we are looking to fly out of La Paz on Friday, east to the Bolivian border town of Puerto Suarez and cross into Brazil there to hunt down a guide for our Pantanal tour.
http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/9175.html
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