La Paz to Lima to Home

On our walk in the centre of La Paz on Tuesday afternoon, we took a few pictures of the steep canyon of the city, a few rural people in their traditional clothing resting in the main plaza and the police in full riot gear blocking a pedestrian foot bridge for some reason. La Paz isn't always pleasant but it's interesting.
On Wednesday morning, May 4th, we had a cab waiting for us at 7 am at our hotel in La Paz. It took less than an hour for the last ride up out of the La Paz canyon and onto the flat plain of El Alto to the airport. After exchanging the last of our Bolivian money for US dollars, we checked in with Peruvian Airlines for our flight to Cusco. Security and customs were easy and we took off on time at 10:40 am. It's only an hour flight and there's an hour time difference so we landed at 10:40 in Cusco.
We had to collect our luggage and check in with Star Peru Airlines for our flight to Lima. The Cusco airport is very busy because many international tourists fly to Lima, then straight to Cusco, go on a tour to Machu Picchu, turn around and go back to Lima and leave the country. There's one big waiting area past security but not waiting areas at each individual gate. It's very difficult to hear any flight announcements. We were lucky not to miss our flight which boarded and left 15 minutes early.
Our flight to Lima was about an hour and a quarter so we were there a little after 2pm. At the Lima airport it's important not to get in the wrong taxi or bad things could happen. One of the official taxi services is Taxi Green so, for 60 soles ($24 CA) we arranged a ride to our hotel, the Inti Killa, in the Miraflores area of Lima.
After checking in to our hotel, we walked to the centre of Miraflores where there are lots of restaurants. Miraflores is much nicer than the historic centre of Lima. There are lots of nice apartment buildings and hotels, fairly wide sidewalks and a general feeling of prosperity. There are still beggars and heavy traffic but the area feels much safer. We ate at a traditional Peruvian restaurant listed in our guidebook before buying water and returning to our hotel for the night. Our room was small but clean and comfortable.
The included breakfast on Thursday morning was simple but filling. We couldn't extend our checkout time so we slowly packed up and finally checked out at 11 am. We left our bags at the hotel and walked a few blocks to the park which runs several kilometres along the top of the cliff above the seaside highway and stony beach. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. We spent several hours walking through the park and met several gringo tourists killing time like us, either on their way to or from Machu Picchu. The only excitement was watching the paragliders who have a launch spot from one point. There wasn't a lot of wind so few of them could take off. One launched but couldn't get enough lift from the sea breeze coming up the cliff. He started drifting lower immediately and had to land on a little point about halfway down. He came very close to hitting the cliff side, which might have been disastrous.
Eventually we bought more water and wandered back to our hotel and then took a long walk past the centre of Miraflores to a recommended restaurant. There we each had a quarter chicken. The walk there and back killed more time. In the evening, we sat in our hotel lobby for awhile and read our books. Finally at 8:30, we had the desk clerk call a cab to the airport for us. This time it cost 40 soles ($16 CA) for the hour ride through heavy traffic to the airport.
The Lima airport was quite chaotic. We discovered that the Air Canada check-in wouldn't open until close to midnight so we found a seat and barricaded ourselves in with a luggage cart so no-one could run over our feet with their luggage cart. Eventually, close to midnight, the check-in opened. Although there were lots of tired, cranky tourists lined up, we got through that and then through customs and security without incident. At our gate, we even managed to sleep for a few minutes before our plane took off at 2:55 am.
On the plane we managed to sleep for a few hours and arrived in Toronto about noon. Again customs and security through to our next flight was easy. However, we then discovered that our 2:10 pm flight to Ottawa was now delayed until 3:40. We eventually managed to send an email to our son Dylan who was picking us up in Ottawa. Finally, at 4:45, we arrived in Ottawa and in a few minutes met Dylan and his partner Kasumi, picked up our bags and were on our way home.
After a stop for Vietnamese food at the Oxhead in Kanata and a few groceries in Renfrew, we were home by 10 pm. It was a long trip getting from Sucre, Bolivia on Tuesday morning to home on Friday night.
We loved our 2 months in Canoa and our month travelling through Peru and Bolivia. The altitude and the cold nights in the Andes were a bit of a struggle sometimes but we saw some fantastic places and had another great trip. At the end of a trip it's always good to be home.
A few final pictures from La Paz and one from Machu Picchu:

Holiday Monday in Sucre and back to La Paz

Tuesday, May 3rd 2016, La Paz Bolivia
Yesterday, our last full day in Sucre, we wanted to try to visit some museums and cathedrals again. First we went to the Museum of Ethnography, which apparently has interesting displays about Bolivia's indigenous culture. Unfortunately it was closed.
Then we went to the Cathedral Museum. In the Cathedral is a painting of the Virgin Mary, painted in 1601. It was subsequently "coated with highlights of gold and silver and adorned in robes encrusted with diamonds, amethysts, pearls, rubies and emeralds donated by wealthy colonial parishioners. The jewels alone are worth millions of dollars, making it the richest Virgin in the Americas." (Lonely Planet). Everyone conveniently forgets that the Spanish colonists got wealthy by enslaving the indigenous people and destroying their culture and religion. Anyway, we never got to see it because the Cathedral and Museum were closed too.
We walked up to the central market. While everywhere else in town was quiet, it was busy. Pretty much everything was for sale, including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
By then we had decided that everything we might want to see was closed for the day. Just for the walk, we went down to the cemetery. It was open, but closed from noon to 2:30. We got there at 12:10 pm.
At least it was a sunny warm day, about 25C. We walked back to our hotel, packed for our return to La Paz and enjoyed the sunshine on the rooftop terrace for a couple of hours. In the evening we returned to the Cosmo restaurant and even had the same meal as last night, the "Plato de Carne para 2 Personas" - the meat plate for 2. It was delicious once again and, with a beer and tip, came to 135 Bolivianos or $27 total. No wonder we rarely go to restaurants at home. Before we returned to the hotel, we walked around the square a few times until we didn't feel quite so full.
This morning we were ready for our last big breakfast at 7:30 am. By 8:30 we were in the lobby waiting for our taxi to take us to the airport. This time getting in the taxi, driven by a young guy, was like stepping into a 70s disco. He had big speakers taking up the whole back window; a rack of CDs on the sun visor; big dice, a crucifix and a picture of his girlfriend hanging from the rear view mirror; blacked out back windows; and fringes hanging here and there. Fortunately he didn't play his favourite tunes for us and he got us to the airport in one piece for 30 Bolivianos ($6).
The Sucre airport is very small. Again, we met the young couple from Vancouver whom we've seen in La Paz and several times in Sucre. They actually live in Langley and own a rental house in Chilliwack, where we've camped a couple of times when our sons were whitewater slalom racing. Our flight took off on schedule and in 50 minutes, we landed in La Paz. It's sunny here as well and about 20C.
We shared a cab with the Vancouver couple so it cost us only 30 Bolivianos to get back downtown to the Sol Andino Hotel from the airport in El Alto. We said goodbye to our new friends and now we're back in our hotel room. We'll probably go for a walk before dinner and make it an early night.
Tomorrow we have to leave our hotel by 7 am to get to the airport. We fly to Cusco, switch airlines and then fly to Lima. The journey home is on.

We Love a Parade

Sunday, May 1st 2016, Sucre Bolivia
After stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet again, we decided to look at cathedrals for the day. Today was sunny and about 25C, much warmer than yesterday. We walked 1/2 block from our hotel and, just by chance, met a couple from Vancouver whom we had met at our hotel in La Paz. Since then, they had biked the "world's most dangerous road" but didn't see anything because it rained all day. Then they flew to Uyuni and spent 3 days driving to and through the salt flats. The scenery was incredible but the driving was a bit much. They had just arrived in Sucre this morning after taking a night bus for over 7 hours. They told us that tomorrow is Labour Day here so not much will be open.
After talking to them, we heard a brass band playing up by the square, so we walked up to see what was going on. As it turned out, the big Labour Day parade is today. We lost count of the number of marching bands preparing for the parade by drinking beer bought from a beer truck at the parade start. At first, there was a sort of battle of the bands before the parade started. Then, we got a good spot with a little shade and watched bands and dancers/marchers including many Cholitas in their finest parade by us around the square. Many of the participants either had a beer in hand or in a pocket.
After 2 hours, we retreated back into the centre of the square for some shade and quiet. Eventually we went back to our hotel and sat on the rooftop terrace to enjoy the sun. We could hear bands playing from noon until 3 pm. Big parade. This is the sort of unexpected travel experience we enjoy and would never get if we were home sitting on the couch.
This evening we walked back up to the square to eat dinner at Cosmo, a restaurant recommended to us. From the amount of beer drinking going on early in the afternoon, we expected a crowd of drunks in the square. However, there were just families and teens enjoying the mild evening. There was a lot of litter left after the parade but all the participants seemed to have moved on to party elsewhere.
Our dinner at Cosmo was the best meal we've had in some time. We'll probably go back there tomorrow night. We're loving Sucre.

Casa de la Libertad y Museo de la Recoleta

Saturday, April 30th 2016, Sucre Bolivia
Yesterday morning we slept in and didn't make it to breakfast until about 9:15. The buffet breakfast here is great. The leek quiche is particularly good and we followed that up with lemon pie. Why not, we're on vacation.
Once we were completely stuffed, we walked around the main square and got orientated. We were too late to have enough time in the Casa de la Libertad, where the Bolivian Declaration of Independence was signed in 1825, so we decided to save that for another day. Almost all tourist attractions here close between 11:45 am and 2:30 pm so we'll have to time our visits.
In the end, we wandered around looking at restaurant menus and admiring the town. Sucre is a university town with about 40 separate little campuses. It seems very clean and prosperous although there are still beggars in the main square and in the surrounding streets. Throughout Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, we still see Volkswagen Beetles, which were still sold here long after they were discontinued in Canada. We also ran into a couple of "Zebras", hired by the Bolivian government to teach children about traffic safety in a friendly, playful way. It seems to be a very successful program although, even when you do everything right as a pedestrian, you still have to watch for vehicles making turns. The pedestrian definitely does not have the right of way.
In the afternoon, we just enjoyed the sunshine on our rooftop terrace. We've included a picture of our room from the terrace. After happy hour, we shared a pizza at a restaurant we had picked and were home early, as usual, after taking a couple of pictures around the square.
This morning we managed to get to breakfast a little earlier. Just by chance, we met a couple from Red Deer, Alberta who invited us to sit with them. He is a doctor and she is a nurse. They volunteer with an organization called "A Better World" which we'll have to google. They have travelled to 82 countries at this point. We had a really interesting breakfast with them. We all agreed that one lesson of travel is that few countries are poor because of a lack of resources. In every poor country, there are some extremely wealthy people along with many extremely poor people. It's a question of politics and distribution of wealth.
After breakfast, we toured the Casa de la Libertad. We learned a lot about the Bolivian struggle for independence and saw many artefacts, including a huge wooden bust of Simon Bolivar, the actual Declaration of Independence and the original hall of independence, which had been liberated from the Jesuits who built it as a church.
After the Casa de la Libertad, we walked to a big park in front of the Bolivian Supreme Court building, checked out a few more restaurants and returned to our room to re-group. We couldn't get in to our next attraction, the Museum and Monastery of Recoleta until 3 pm, so we spent some time reading on the rooftop terrace.
Sometime after 2 pm we walked uphill about 7 blocks to the plaza overlooking the city and in front of the church and monastery of Recoleta. Shortly after 3 we were admitted and were taken on an 8 person tour which was unfortunately all in Spanish. However, it was still interesting. On the tour, we saw the nationally famous "Ancient Cedar" tree which is the only example left of the trees that used to cover Sucre. It looked more like some type of Ash than a Cedar but why quibble? As the tour continued, we saw lots of religious paintings and artefacts and ended up in the so-called choir above and at the back of the church, but only the present-day Jesuit monks are allowed to sit there.
There were elaborately carved wooden seats from the 1870s here, depicting some Jesuit missionaries of this order who were crucified in Nagasaki in 1595 by the Japanese people they were trying to convert. Some of the carvings appeared to be children, not adult missionaries, so we're not sure what that's about.
Yesterday was sunny and 24C. Today was cloudy this morning but this afternoon is sunny and about 15C. Fall is here. Tonight, we ate goulash at El Germen. Tomorrow, we'll probably tour some of the cathedrals.

La Paz to Sucre

Thursday, April 28th, 2016
Yesterday evening we noticed "The English Pub" just down the street from our hotel so we went in for bangers and mash for me and fish and chips for Anita, all washed down with Bolivian draught beer. Not bad. We were back in our room early as usual.
This morning after Skyping our granddaughter, who is 1 year old today, we had a leisurely breakfast and paid our bill. We had already arranged an airport transfer at 11 am for 70 Bolivianos ($14). After packing up, we were in the lobby by 10:50 and a small van was waiting for us. It took about 40 minutes to climb the steep, congested streets of La Paz to get to the airport in El Alto above the city.
La Paz was founded by the Spanish in the canyon where the Aymara indigenous people lived to avoid the harsh weather of the altiplano above. Gradually, the city expanded up the steep slopes and eventually the satellite city of El Alto grew on the flat plain. The airport in El Alto has very long runways because it takes planes a long time to take off at this altitude.
The natural setting of La Paz, with the steep canyon, high plain, snow capped peaks in the distance and lots of sunshine would be quite beautiful if the cities of La Paz and El Alto weren't here. El Alto, in particular is very drab - all 3 to 6 storey red brick buildings and grimy streets.
The La Paz airport seems quite small for a city this size. However, everything seems to work and it was no problem checking in with Bolivian Airlines and getting through security.
Our first 1/2 hour flight to Cochibamba left on time at 2:25 pm. It was a perfectly clear day so we enjoyed the rugged mountain scenery. When we arrived in Cochibamba it was sunny and hot. We quickly were escorted from one plane to the other and soon took off for Sucre. Again we enjoyed the rugged scenery. Much of what we saw was high, dry, treeless and devoid of human habitation. In some of the river valleys we saw small farms. It's amazing where people can eke out a living.
The Sucre terminal is quite small with only 1 little luggage carousel. After the quick turnaround in Cochibamba, we were pleasantly surprised to see our packs appear. Outside the terminal, about 6 or 8 taxi drivers were right in our faces immediately. I picked one old guy who didn't look like an axe murderer and he led us to his car.
We were a little surprised to see the jalopy he was driving. He said it would cost 30 Bolivianos ($6 CA) to take us to our hotel, which seemed a little high but within reason, so we got in. He was driving an old Datsun which he must have bought about 50 years ago when he first learned to drive. Even the dashboard was rusty. Looking over the front passenger seat, I could see the road going by through a hole in the floor. When we went around every corner, the wheel bearings squealed. When we stopped, the brakes squealed. Luckily the weather was warm because we had to drive with all the windows open because of the exhaust fumes. No doubt his exhaust pipe was full of holes. When he changed gears, the clutch seemed to slip. At each of the many small hills we wondered if we would make it over the top. Meanwhile he honked his horn at nothing. However, in about 15 or 20 minutes, we arrived at our hotel, none the worse for wear.
Sucre is in a valley surrounded by low mountains. At 2,750 metres (9,000 feet), it's 3,000 feet lower than La Paz so it's warmer and easier for breathing. It's the actual capital of Bolivia although all the governing takes place in La Paz. Sucre is known as the most beautiful city in Bolivia with many whitewashed stucco buildings.
We had decided to pay a little extra for a room because we're starting our last week of travel and we know we're well under budget anyway. The Hostal de Su Merced was highly rated so we decided it might be worth the $67 US + 13% tax they're charging. When we saw our room we were happy with our choice. We have one of two top floor rooms. From any of our 3 big windows, we can see over most of the rooftops of Sucre. We have a nice bright room, bathtub, an electric heater, a small fridge, good wifi, included breakfast and really nice decor. Well worth it.
After getting settled, we walked the few blocks to the main square and looked for a restaurant. We settled on one with good reviews from Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor called the Bibliocafe where we shared a plate of nachos and a one litre beer. Tomorrow we'll explore Sucre.

Touring Central La Paz On Our Own

Wednesday, April 27th, La Paz Bolivia
At the end of our tour yesterday, our Red Cap guides had explained a little bit about Bolivian politics. There are many protests and they can turn violent. We had been turned away at the Plaza Pedro D Murillo, adjacent to the Presidential Palace, for that reason. In fact, the Presidential Palace is known as the "Palacio Quemado" (Burned Palace) because it has been gutted by fire so often. In 1946, the then president was the last one dragged from the palace and hung from a lamppost in the plaza by an angry mob. We've enclosed a poor picture of today's barricade from across the street.
Our guides had mixed feelings about the current president, Evo Morales. He has done a lot to curb racism and promote indigenous pride. He has re-nationalized a lot of the public infrastructure that was sold off by a previous president who took the profits and ran to the US. This happened only a dozen years ago.
However, Morales also says some things without thinking. For example, he said that  the female hormones fed to chickens to make them grow faster was causing the men who ate them to turn gay. He had to apologize to both the chicken producers and the gay community. He also said that, since Bolivia is underpopulated, he would tax women without children and outlaw condoms. He had to apologize for that too. There's actually a popular book of all his wild statements.
Morales is also changing the constitution in an attempt to hold power longer. This is making many Bolivians very nervous.
This morning after breakfast, we reserved this hotel again when we return from Sucre. It's a bit dreary but it's cheap and we'll only be here for about 15 hours overnight before we fly to Lima.
We went back to the San Francisco Plaza and Church to see more for ourselves. First we stopped inside the Church, which is very ornately decorated. The stone carvings on the walls, ceilings and pillars were made by Incan stone carvers so they reflect some traditional indigenous beliefs. Above the altar were 20 to 30 mirrors. According to our Red Cap guides, the indigenous people who first came to the Church had never seen their own images before and were fascinated by mirrors so the priests used mirrors to lure them in. The priests told them after they had a look that the mirrors had captured their souls but, not to worry, if they came to Mass every day for the rest of their lives, their souls would be okay. Nowadays, although about 80% of Bolivians identify themselves as Roman Catholic, only about 10% go to church.
For 20 Bolivianos each ($4 CA) we got a private tour of the church and monastery museum. One part is closed off since there are still monks living there. We climbed up a narrow passage  (pictured) to the bell tower where we could see the handicapped tent city in the plaza.
When we went back out to the plaza, the handicapped people were just starting a protest march to somewhere. We gave one person a donation and then moved on up through the Mercado Lanza to the Plaza Alonzo de Mendoza. From there we walked down and around the Plaza Pedro D Murillo to see if we could get in to see the Presidential Palace but it was even more heavily barricaded and guarded than yesterday. It was still only about noon but we were getting tired of the car exhaust and congestion on the busy streets. We walked back down to the Plaza San Pedro, bought a couple of pastries, and relaxed. It was the only place where we could sit in peace shaded by a few trees. In the park was one of the many shoeshine vendors. They all cover their faces so no-one will recognize them and see how low they've sunk to make a living.
Eventually, we walked back up through the food market streets and the huge Mercado Negro (black market) in which anything is for sale along its narrow, winding lanes. By a little after 2 pm we were back at our hotel. Tonight we'll just go around the corner to Martinni's Pizza for lasagna.
Central, historic La Paz is interesting for about one full day. After that it's just noisy and congested. If we didn't have to return here and stay overnight to get our flight to Lima, we wouldn't.

La Paz Walking Tour

Tuesday April 26th, 2016 La Paz, Bolivia
Last night was the first night in about a week that I didn't wake up in the middle of the night short of breath and have to sit up in bed for a couple of hours and breathe deeply. I was still awake for a couple of hours around midnight but my breathing was fine. We've only come down about 150 metres in elevation from Lake Titicaca and we're still around 3,660 metres (12,000 feet) but maybe I'm finally getting used to it. We both still get quickly short of breath with any exertion. There's just not that much oxygen at this elevation.
This morning before breakfast, we made an online booking of a "Red Cap Walking Tour" of La Paz for $3 US each. We had learned of this tour through our friends Bob and Germaine, who had been in La Paz about a month ago. At 11 am we met with about 30 tourists and 2 guides at the Plaza San Pedro, about 6 blocks from our hotel.
The Plaza San Pedro is adjacent to the San Pedro Church and, on another side, the San Pedro Prison. We learned from our guides that it's supposed to hold 400 criminals but about 2,500 people live in there, including the families of the prisoners. Anyone sentenced to a term there is on their own. They have to pay rent, buy their own food and look after all their own needs. Rents vary greatly, depending on the luxury desired. There are some 2 metre by 2 metre cells holding 6 or 8 prisoners while there are also drug lords with big apartments, whirlpool tubs, plasma TVs and WIFI. The prison is like a small city with legal and illegal businesses. Partly manufactured cocaine is finished in the prison and then thrown in packages off the roof to the dealers outside. This can happen in the middle of the afternoon. The police and guards are paid off so they don't interfere unless the wrong person picks up the package. The children of the inmates go out to school each day and the wives go out to work. They all go back inside in the evening. There used to be prison tours for tourists run by the inmates in the 1990s but there were some assaults and rapes so that business was banned. It sounds like something made up for TV but it's real right now about 10 blocks from our hotel.
We walked up through the food market streets. Indigenous women who wear the full skirts, long braids and bowler hats sell food and many other things from their spots on the sidewalk or the street. The women are known as "Cholitas", a more acceptable form of the word "Chola" which is now becoming unacceptable as a racist and derogatory connotation. If Bolivians want to soften a word, they use the diminutive to make it more acceptable.
The Cholitas' style of dress came from their admiration of the full skirts of the Spanish women who came to Bolivia. The bowler hats came from Englishmen who brought them when they were constructing the railroad. Apparently they couldn't sell the small ones so, with some creative marketing, convinced the indigenous women that they looked like beautiful crowns perched on top of their heads.
When the Cholitas hope to attract an admirer, they may show a bit of calf from under their big skirt. Muscular calves are a sign of strength and ability to carry big loads uphill. That's considered very sexy. The Cholitas also hope to have big families to take care of them when they're old. However, even if they can afford to retire, they keep working because the indigenous commandments are: "Don't lie; don't steal; and don't be lazy". If they have extra money they spend it on better bowler hats which can be quite expensive and gold teeth and jewelry.
We were warned not to take photos of the Cholitas without obtaining permission first. Many of them still believe that a picture may capture their soul and hold it. The Cholitas have been known to be quite aggressive, which is where Cholita wrestling started. Now Cholita wrestling is a big attraction in El Alto every Thursday and Sunday and has even been sanctioned by the WWF in the US.
After the food market we went to the Witches' Market, where potions are sold for all manner of illness and unhappiness. You can buy dusts to blow onto the back of a person's head to attract them, repel them, punish them, make them crazy with lust and make them want to marry you. Llama foetuses are sold to bury in the ground when building a new home, as an offering to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). In the near past, but hopefully not today, yatiris (witch doctors) could be hired to find a homeless person whom no-one would miss, get them drunk to the point of unconsciousness and conduct a ceremony which ended with the drunk buried in the concrete foundation of a big building as a human sacrifice. When in La Paz, don't pass out drunk on the street. You never know what might happen.
As we walked through the Plaza San Francisco, next to one of the main churches, we had to go between many tents that had been set up in the last few days. A group of handicapped people had made a 34 day march from Cochibamba to La Paz. Some died on the way. They're pressing the government for an increase in their handicapped pensions to 500 Bolivianos (about $100 CA).
We stopped for a break in the Mercado Lanza, a big ugly concrete structure with many small vendors booths. For 6 Bolivianos, we bought a deep fried stuffed potato that was really tasty.
Our tour continued to the Plaza Pedro D Murillo but, due to the potential for protests, the plaza was closed and was guarded by many riot police in full gear. In the end, we stopped at a restaurant with a big room that the Red Cap guides could use for some final explanations of life in La Paz. Great tour.

Copacabana to La Paz

On Monday, April 25th in Copacabana, we had a leisurely breakfast, packed up and checked out at the last moment at 11 am. At the front desk, we complained again about the sewer gas smell from the bathroom floor drain and the fact that the bathroom sink leaked water onto the floor so badly that it was unusable. The so-called plumber had been in to fix these problems after we had complained the day before but he just made things worse. The desk clerk immediately lowered our bill from $44 US per night to $30 US per night. It seemed like he already knew about these problems because others had probably complained before us. As we sat on our front lawn to kill time before our 1:30 pm bus, we saw the staff clean our room and make it ready for the next guests. If they don't complain, presumably they'll be paying $44 per night. It was a beautiful room. It's too bad they can't seem to fix the plumbing. In the end, we had put a folded wet towel over the floor drain and used the kitchen sink for everything so we hadn't really cared.
Eventually, we wandered down to the street leading to the docks for a set lunch. By 1 pm we had loaded our gear on our tourist bus and were ready to depart. This bus wasn't the best but it was pretty good. We left on time at 1:30. For the first hour we drove through the high mountain scenery with lots of views of Lake Titicaca.
About 2:30 pm we descended back down to a narrows in the lake. We all got off the bus, paid 2 Bolivianos each (40 cents) and boarded a little boat to get across to the other side. The boatman just kept cramming people in until all the bench seats along each side were full. There was no way we were going to sit in the little cabin so we ended up at the back beside the stinky outboard motor which had no cover. There wasn't a life jacket in sight. The wind was sweeping waves straight through the narrows as we crossed parallel to them to get to the other shore. We got a little wet from the spray as the boat rolled but it wasn't too bad. It only took about 10 or 12 minutes to make the crossing.
Our bus crossed a bit later on its own rickety old barge. After a washroom visit while we waited on the other shore, we reboarded the bus and were on our way again. The scenery on the other side gradually got flatter with more grimy little farming villages. A lot of road construction made it a slow trip.
Finally about 4:30 we entered the newer city of El Alto above La Paz. There were lots of unfinished buildings, piles of gravel and rubble and traffic congestion. Hell on earth. Finally we started down the steep canyon road into La Paz and arrived at the bus terminal about 5:45 pm. We had been told that the bus would drop us off in the tourist district near our hotel but that didn't happen. We took a taxi for 20 Bolivianos ($4 CA) to our hotel.
The Sol Andino Hotel gets good reviews on Hostel World and Booking.com but once again, the online pictures were probably taken about 15 years ago. Our room, bathroom and bedding are clean but, especially after our suite that we had just left at La Cupula, everything looked dark and dreary. It seems that there is no light bulb in South America greater than about 10 watts. However, it's only $36 US per night. We rented an electric heater for another $3 US per night, the WIFI is quite good and there's lots of hot water. All the basics are covered.
After getting settled, we went just around the corner to Martini's Pizza which is recommended in Lonely Planet. Our pizza was quite good, washed down with a shared 600 ml Pacena beer. Soon we were back in our room for an hour of Netflix and some sleep.