June 4, 2010 (Day 17)
Ahh, finally a day we could sleep in! After all those early morning wake up calls, it was nice to just lie in bed and not be in a rush to go anywhere. But there's no point of sleeping in too late! We're in Bolivia, after all!
After eating breakfast in the hostel's upstairs restaurant, we ventured back into town for some more sightseeing and shopping.
We had already experienced our herd tour of Lake Titicaca in Puno and weren't too eager to repeat that again, so we passed on the chance to go on a boat cruise to the Island of the Sun and Island of the Moon, which would land us back in Copacabana at around 1:30pm. Considering we were disappointed with the beach, we decided that it would best to catch the early afternoon tourist bus to La Paz, and save a day in our itinerary to hopefully hit a real beach in Chile.
The bus ride provided many spectacular views of Lake Titicaca and the nearby mountain ranges as we weaved our way up the highway, and then the totally unexpected happened... we were told to get out of the bus. There was no warning that this would occur. No notice, nothing, nada,... except the Spanish driver saying something to a few people up front, and word slowly filtering it's way to the back of the bus where we were sitting. We grabbed our daypacks, and followed everyone out. As soon as the last passengers disembarked, the bus drove off onto a boat.
That's right, our bus was heading across the inlet and we were left stranded without any instructions on the wrong side of the waterway. That is, until someone found out that there's a passenger ferry further to the left, where each one of us had to buy a 1.50 Boliviano ticket to cross the river. Wasn't it nice of the bus ticket salesman and driver to not mention anything about a ferry crossing!
After lining up for a a ferry ticket, we boarded a motor boat, inhaled our annual dose of diesel fumes, and caught up to our waiting bus on the other side.
We ended up in La Paz and our hotel just before 6pm, which left us only an hour to find the Gravity Assisted office and sign up for tomorrow's biking excursion.
After eating breakfast in the hostel's upstairs restaurant, we ventured back into town for some more sightseeing and shopping.
We had already experienced our herd tour of Lake Titicaca in Puno and weren't too eager to repeat that again, so we passed on the chance to go on a boat cruise to the Island of the Sun and Island of the Moon, which would land us back in Copacabana at around 1:30pm. Considering we were disappointed with the beach, we decided that it would best to catch the early afternoon tourist bus to La Paz, and save a day in our itinerary to hopefully hit a real beach in Chile.
The bus ride provided many spectacular views of Lake Titicaca and the nearby mountain ranges as we weaved our way up the highway, and then the totally unexpected happened... we were told to get out of the bus. There was no warning that this would occur. No notice, nothing, nada,... except the Spanish driver saying something to a few people up front, and word slowly filtering it's way to the back of the bus where we were sitting. We grabbed our daypacks, and followed everyone out. As soon as the last passengers disembarked, the bus drove off onto a boat.
That's right, our bus was heading across the inlet and we were left stranded without any instructions on the wrong side of the waterway. That is, until someone found out that there's a passenger ferry further to the left, where each one of us had to buy a 1.50 Boliviano ticket to cross the river. Wasn't it nice of the bus ticket salesman and driver to not mention anything about a ferry crossing!
After lining up for a a ferry ticket, we boarded a motor boat, inhaled our annual dose of diesel fumes, and caught up to our waiting bus on the other side.
We ended up in La Paz and our hotel just before 6pm, which left us only an hour to find the Gravity Assisted office and sign up for tomorrow's biking excursion.
After signing our lives away, we proceeded to have dinner at a French Canadian restaurant. Apparently, Quebecois cuisine isn't very popular in La Paz as we had the whole place to ourselves on a Friday night. The food did not meet our homesick expectations but was decent nonetheless, and then just as got our bill, a couple, from all places, Gatineau, sat down across the room from us.
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