Our bus looked good from the outside and was fairly comfortable but it seemed like it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in about 10 years. It smelled like dirty socks. Nevertheless, that was the way it was for the next 4 hours.
We skirted the southwest shore of Lake Titicaca through a number of small, poor farming villages. After almost 3 hours, we arrived at the border with Bolivia. Everyone got off the bus, exchanged some Peruvian soles for Bolivian Bolivianos and walked into the little Peru immigration office to exit the country. One young German guy had lost his Andean Immigration Card, the Peruvian visa paper, so he was detained while the rest of us were checked and then walked about 100 metres to the Bolivian side of the border. We carried our day packs while our big packs were still under the bus, which would cross the border to pick us up later. No-one checked anything we were carrying.
At the Bolivian office, we filled out another form and were soon admitted to the country. Two or three Asian people, from some country unkown to us, didn't have the proper visas and were detained at least 1/2 hour. I expect that money was the solution. Eventually the young German and the Asians were admitted to Bolivia. We all re-boarded the bus and were on our way.
If we had thought that the rest of Bolivia looked like the border crossing, we might have turned around and gone back. Everything at the border was very shabby and there was lots of litter. Not that nice.
In another 1/2 hour we reached Copacabana, a small town on the south shore of Lake Titicaca. We could see our hotel, La Cupula, up on the hillside about a 5 minute walk from the centre of town. Carrying our packs uphill at this altitude required a few rest stops but eventually we checked in. Our little suite has kitchen facilities, a small molded clay wood stove, its own lawn with 2 chairs and a big window overlooking the lake and town. Very beautiful.
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