End of Peru (Puno) and into Bolivia (only just)

Getting very brave with the whole rock-up-and-go approach to travelling, we headed to the Cusco bus station very early to get bus tickets to Puno. And we were SO right! Saving 80Soles (11 pounds) by not going through an agent! We did however make one big mistake and assumed that (like Asia) they would stop 5 times during the 6 hour journey for us to get something to eat. Needless to say all we ate that day was 2 Oreo cookies and half a Twix each. Even ran out of water! Not doing that again. I was also nearly left behind when I made a mad dash for the baños at one of the brief stops and had to chase the bus down the dust road as it drove off without me (Simon assures me he was trying to get them to stop)

We didn´t really want to go to Puno, but crossing the Bolivian boarder you can´t really avoid it as all buses transit through there. So we decided a night in a basic hostel and a morning at the floating villages (that is all Puno has to offer) was a good way to spend our time before heading into Bolivia. We managed to find a rather cool little hostel called Inca´s Rest. Owned and run by a crazy man from Uruguay who made a joke out of everything which was rather refreshing after a long bus journey. We suffered as many jokes as we could to be polite and then headed off in the direction of dinner...Oreo cookies can only last a girl so long.

Our trip to Puno was not going to be a complete waste of time and early the next morning we headed off to the floating villages. This was in fact a very interesting morning and rather amazed at how a whole community survive on a floating reed island. They (the Uros tribe, which pre-date the Incas) moved to the middle of the lake to avoid the Spanish colonist rule and in turn created a whole new life floating out there. We visited Tribuna (the largest of about 40 islands) where the islands are made and re-made from the totora reeds which provide home for their residents. The totora reed bed has dense roots to support the top layer, which rots and must be replaced regularly by stacking more reeds on top of the layer beneath. We managed to stay on top and not put our foot through the island, but did feel a little like we had been shipped out there to buy souvenirs.

On our bus trip from Cusco I had asked the couple next to us if I could read their Lonely Planet guidebook. I came across a section on crossing into Bolivia and notice a box that said ´some countries (including South Africans) require visas in advance´. Don´t panic I thought, I can get one at the border and they are regularly changing the law, so this may not even apply now. I then read that there was a Bolivian consulate in Puno and that they were open until 2pm...so I just popped-in to check after the floating island tour. Oh GREAT, here I go again with another visa requirement! And it was a good thing we popped in to check, as the very nice little man at the consulate said I definitely needed one in advance, please produce the following forms, certificates and info and they will think about issuing one!!! (for free I might add) Simon and I ran around like mad things getting copies of passports, vaccination certificates, itinerary, hotel bookings in Bolivia etc. (you have no idea how difficult it is to find either a printer or a photocopier in Peru!) We only took 30min to get all the paperwork done, but when I handed the form in at 1pm and said I had a bus to catch at 3pm, the very helpful little man gave me ´oh no´big eyes! It is amazing how well my very bad Spanish worked and he did it for me in 15min...for which he got lots of blowing kisses and a handshake (better than having to pay an official at the boarder I thought)

Again executing our turn-up-and-pay strategy for buses, we managed to get a very smart (brand new) Mec Benz taxi for the 3 hour trip across the boarder for only 15Soles each! Oh we are good. Although we almost didn´t make it! Peru is 1 hour behind Bolivia and the boarder closes at 7pm on the Bolivian side. This didn´t seem to bother the Peruvian roadworks man who calmly said we would have to wait 2 hours while they closed the only road to the boarder!!! Driver vs Roadworks man arguing ensued and we then headed off behind a grader for 3kms in order to make it on time. And no problems with the visa...he was a little surprised (disappointed) I had got one and reluctantly stamped my passport. The Americans in our taxi had to pay $100 per person for their visas - ouch!

Arriving safely in Copacabana for the evening we were ecstatic to be in Bolivia. Oh what drama for one day!