Into Bolivia

Lonely Planet states '....Puno has its share of both grit and cheer...'; I only found grit, though I did mentally cheer when I left. Puno is on the shore of Lake Titicaca and could do so much more given the location, perhaps in time things will change.

However, Puno is a logical stepping stone to Bolivia, the border being 80 miles away. A redeeming comment, Nak Hotels served the best breakfast in several thousand miles, and they had hot water at the sink, highly unusual! 

The altiplano has to be crossed to get to Puno from Mollendo, it ran for near 100 miles at an altitude of more than 14,500 ft; 15,000ft was breached on two occasions though no new personal best to report. Scrub land and miles of high desert. Rainbow colored rock formations, with blue/green being much in evidence, disclosed the copper that lies beneath.

Anglo American mining are developing a new copper mine in the Moquegua region, several new bridges were being installed to accommodate the mine traffic.

Harley Davidsons are rare beasts in Peru, but one was travelling two-up to Puno. We passed each other a couple of times and when the chance presented I pulled up behind them when they stopped by a parked camper. It turned out they were a Brazilian couple. The pilot was anxious about his direction of travel, which is a little odd as there was only one intersection in 80 miles and that was well posted. When he went behind the camper to relieve himself I scooched as I need to press on. 

The sun was bright on the altiplano, played havoc with the video camera but did not deliver much heat, in the low 50's for most of the way.

Eventually the town of Puno came into view and with it the first glimpse of Lake Titicaca.  

The border crossing opens at 8.30am, I arrived at about 11.00am as planned. Exiting Peru took only 20 minutes, it is a very quiet crossing. The chain marks the official exit point from Peru. By the time I had completed the formalities the camper van was in Peru, occupied by a couple of Argentinian guys making their way north. We chatted for a bit.

The arch marks the official land border, to no fanfare. On the other side a parking area, another barrier and the modest Bolivian migration and customs buildings. On the Bolivian side they close for lunch at 1.00pm and Bolivia is an hour ahead of Peru, I was lucky and was processed ahead of the close. For the first time on a land crossing the customs agent checked the VIN. Fortunately I had the Virginia title corrected in April, the VIN on the one used on the first leg had two letters switched around, discovering that at a border would not have been beneficial. 

The whole border crossing process took less than an hour. It sometimes pays to use the road less travelled.

Just 5 miles left to ride from the border to Copacabana, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake  in the world. Hostel Utama sits halfway up the hill from the central square, at an elevation of 12,600ft it is an effort to climb back from the lake front, but the views of the lake are delightful.

As night approached the sky was on fire.

T2