Friday, March 14, 2014

La Paz

Puno to Copacabana and on to La Paz.
The hotel at Puno was very nice, one Dutch camper with Marco Hanneke and Kids were there as well, thy started their trip from Argentina and will do Peru and hopefully back to Brazil for the world series. Safe travels to you.
As we were strolling though Copacabana we met up with Hendrick and Brenda, we were both surprised to meet again. We staid in the parking of Hotel Gloria. The town was a mess as Carnival had finished the day before, and the whole town smelled of recycled beer. The border crossing  was the simplest so far, from the Peru side thy could not be bothered to come out and just stamped our papers. On the Bolivian side it was 5 minuted emigration and 10 minutes import of vehicle and a small donation to the Bolivian custom and we were on our way. Gas is a problem here.
As it is heavily subsidized by the government thy do not want to sell it to foreigners.   
Only the YPFB stations will fill your tank and charge 6.0 bolivar per litre. At the other stations thy might charge you 9.0 Bolivar and YPFB  gas stations are not many, So we will have to be diligent about filling up when possible. Crossed from Copacabana with a primitive ferry, if I had not seen a bus board the "ferry" and cross to Tiquina I  would not have dared to go on. Arrived in La Paz and what a stunning city it is, also the surroundings are extra ordinary, Our GPS got us lost again and we ended up right in the centre of town and there even the GPS was lost. We asked a taxi driver if he knew where the Overland Hotel is and to our surprise he said yes and he will guide us there when he is finished with his ride in 20 minutes.
He returned in 10 minutes and told us it would cost  50 Bolivar as the hotel is one hour away. It was a 45 minute ride through the city and suburbs but we got to the right place. Even the receptionist was amazed that a taxi driver knew the hotel. There is a Belgian motor home here and today Hendrick and Brenda arrived. We went in to town to buy SOAT (mandatory insurance) and inquire about a bike tour on the Ruta de la Muerte and will do it on Saturday.
Big Hugs to all
Norbert and Greti
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Importing Pepsi

Super Ferry
Just a random checkpoint

All paperwork done by hand


Yes a bus fits
Norbert and the Ladies

Valley of the Moon


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Devils molar mountain
Market outside La Paz

Colourful Busses



3 comments:

  1. Na, das Wort Copacabana hat mich erstmal verwirrt....Auflösung fand ich dann bei Google Map und tatataaaaa ihr hattet bei den Bildern auch eine Hilfe eingebaut. Ruta de la muerte....ist das nicht die worlds dangerous road....und da wollt ihr Fahrrad fahren ?? Euch graut es doch vor nichts....viel Vergnügen und passt gut auf euch auf. Was ist eigentlich euer Zielpunkt. Rita

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  2. Who knew you would grow up to be adrenaline junkies!!!
    Be safe and enjoy!
    xx00
    Chantal

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  3. Devils molar mountain could be in The National Geographic magazine for sure. Maybe a second career as photographer?

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