Getting from Cusco to Bolivia is a lot harder than you'd think. We booked our buses through the hostel's tour agency, Inca World. NEVER USE THEM. I'm not even going to bother typing out the other things that went wrong, but basically we arrived at the terminal terreste at 10 last night to catch our nightbus to Puno, Peru. Well, we paid 60 soles, or USD$20 for a full-cama, very comfy nightbus where they sort of spoil you. And after even half an hour of arguing and figuring, we still ended up on a semi-cama, uncomfortable, no-leg-room, cramped, 20-sol bus for 7 or 8 hours. No refund or anything, of course.
So we got to Puno at 5:30 in the morning, where Gabi and Kev's guide for Lake Titicaca was supposed to meet them. Nope. Ripped off over $100 by that damn agency. They tried calling later, too, and the phone was disconnected. Awesome. So, hungry, frustrated, and totally exhausted, we got a FREEZING COLD hostel so we could sleep from 6-10 (though I was starving so sort of half-slept for 2 hours), then wake up and go to the next bus taking us to Copacabana, Bolivia. We spent 3 hours in the bus station, half of that spent waiting for my soup that the reeeeeally bad restaurant forgot. Twice. Then hopped on a bus, finding that 5 people had to literally sit on wood stools in the aisles because they over-booked.
But we made it. Driving alongside the stunning Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world), with a sharp blue contrast against mountain peaks and yellow grass, we arrived to Copacabana, to a nice lakeside hotel.
The whole drive I felt myself getting sick, and by dinner it hit hard- headache, stuffy/runny nose, nauseous, and a horrrible fever that left me with cold shakes while my face gave off more heat than a radiator. So by 10, I was in bed while the boys went out.
I slept until almost noon, woke up without the fever and only a really bad head cold (but enough to get on a bus and everything), and off we were again, after buying some really unique, gorgeous necklaces from a Norwegian-Argentinian hippie :D Bolivia is totally different from Peru. Not even in a way I can describe, just drastically different. You feel it immediately. We got to La Paz around 6pm, driving down a street steep enough for a rollercoaster and narrow enough for a sidewalk, stopping outside- this is a first- a pantyhose store! Haha yep, definitely different!
Unfortunately, the boys booked into a hostel which I didn't even THINK to do, but it's a verrry popular hostel and I ended up getting my own room a few blocks away. For 30 Bolivianos a night (7 Bolivianos is $1) I get my own room, comfortable bed, WARM room (a first since Ecuador) and oh, oh, get this,
HOT HOT WATER! NOT LUKEWARM, HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aside from 2 hostels in Ecuador and 2 in Peru (those were a day each), I haven't had that at all! Talk about spoiled, I spent as long as I could just melting beneath the water with a big ol' grin on my face. Sorry to be a spoiled Canadian but hot showers really do make me happy as a clam and I don't care who knows it.
So we were out until 4:30 dancing, then I came back cause my cold is really annoying and my nose was being lame, and slept literally until 3:30 today. I'm blaming the altitude :P
