Day37-Hello Bolivia, Wed, Feb 2, 2011

Border Crossing #11 – Peru/Bolivia

Start & Stop: Cuzco, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia

Mileage: 396 miles

Hotel: Hotel Restaurante Oberland, alle El Agrario #3118, La Paz, Bolivia, +591 22745040,  $56 USD, including Desayuno and parking

Fuel: Peru: Best grade 95 = S/16.69 Sol/Gal ($2.33 USD/gal)

Currency Exchange: $1 USD = 7.01 Boliviano

Dean: The weather over the past week has a rain theme to it.  We left Cuzco around 7AM and it was overcast and mist for the first 50 miles.  Then then it was blue skies and 12,000′ all the way to La Paz.

We did go over one big summit Abra ?, 14,000 feet.  This was unusual because it had no big climb going over it.  Just a huge valley with a gentle rise and fall on the other side.  Snow on mountain alll around us.  Rode most of the day at 65-70 mph.

Peru/Bolivia Border Crossing

Bolivia Visa = $135 USD!

Lisa: super easy crossing again. Everyone is so nice at these borders, especially compared to Central America. There are none of the ‘helper/bandito” people here because there is no need for ‘help’.  The Peru check-out took 15 minutes, most of which was explaining to Aduano that, indeed, we were going to Bolivia.  Check-in on the other side was even easier.  In fact today the Bolivian Police actually walked me over to where I needed to be, then escorted me into the office to sit down and fill out paperwork for the required Visa.  He then took me across the street to the photocopy place, took some cash over to be changed for me, counted it back out for me and explained the different coins and bills.  He then escorted me to the front of the line to get it all officially stamped.  I could get used to this.  All the while he was discussing the cost of my bike, my really mean looking boots, etc.  After that, 15 minutes in Aduano to get the bikes in and Boom! we’re in Bolivia.

Dean: This is why Lisa does the paper work.  She flutter’s her eye lashes, asks “Donde …” and the boarder officer walks her through the entire Immigration/Aduana exit/entry.  I just make myself invisible and stay out of trouble.

Lisa: We had a hotel in mind and thought we had a correct waypoint.  We arrived at said waypoint about 5:30. Hmmm…this ain’t it.  We move into action, pulling out the book, trying to hail a taxi at rush hour and chatting up some locals.   Soon enough we had a super cab driver escort us the 6 miles to our hotel, even stopping once to come back and ask me if he could drive muy rapido and would I be OK with that.  Hmmm…clearly he’s new to this.  It was pretty funny actually  because he overshot the hotel and took us RIGHT into some HUGE street festival in this little town.  Crazy loud music, street dancers taking up the northbound lane, the traffic sharing the southbound lanes and Dean and I duck walking the V-Pigs through the melee.  Yup, we gots us some local flavor.  No problemo, hailed 2 soldiers who pointed him in the right direction and there we were, safely in the parking lot of our little hotel.  It was a lot later than we planned and very dark out but just a little side adventure to an otherwise easy day.

Dean: Immediately reminded me of “Easy Rider” where the two heros, Wyatt and Billy come into town and end up riding in the middle of a parade.

Lisa: As a side note, I am loving South America. It’s a world of its own here and has a lot to offer.  I think it might be overwhelming to just sort of drop in here from some sleepy suburban home town but even driving in these more southern cities is not as ‘angry’ as, for example, Panama City or even Lima.  Some honking, some lane pressure but mostly OK.  Today we found ourselves on a VERY steep downhill side street, needing to transition 90 degrees to another sloped street with an off camber intersection and traffic coming in also from another downhill street, at 45 degrees.  I was leading and as I got into the intersection I saw a large stake bed entering from the diagonal – I just lifted my helmet and held out my hand for him to stay put and Dean and I sailed through.  Honestly, that wouldn’t have been successful in Central America.

I’m still not a huge fan of the food unless it’s seafood but some of that is my crappy Spanish.  Half the time we have no idea what we’re getting.  Even when we think we know  – I ordered tortillas con huevos, simple right?  Yeah, not so much. I got some weird tasteless biscuit things but oh well.

Dean: Tomorrow, El Camino de la Muerte!