La Paz - 4 Nov 2005

Its getting common to wake up at 06.00 in the morning. A quick hot shower , packing my bag and at 08.00 on the bus. We drove all the way along lake Titicaca and around 11.00 hr we reached the Bolivian border. I had a smooth bordercrossing and 30 minuts later we arrived in
Copacobana, a popular Bolivian town on lake Titicaca. It caters for almost 50 % to tourists I
think and it has a street where you find a lot of hippies & Co. At 14.00 hrs I had to take a bus
from Copacobana to La Paz. We drove further along lake Titicaca and crossed the lake 1 time.
At that harbour we got a second passport check done by the police. After lake Titicaca we went
up onto the altiplano up to 4300 meter. The landscape looks a bit like Tibet, it was cold and
at a certain point we could see the mountains full of snow. At around 17.00 hrs we arrived
at El Alto, the highest level of La Paz. I think it looked worser than Kinshasa. The airport
is on this level too. Once we had passed El Alto I saw something incredible. It was like we
were suddenly looking into the crater of a vulcano, we saw a gap in the ground , 1000 meters
deep. This gap was La Paz. At the bottom of the gap is the citycentre with the skycrappers
so seen from the altiplano they looked like Legotowers. When the bus arrived in the centre
and stopped to dropp us we got a escort from two weaponed tourist police officers who blocked
the footway to avoid that people would steel our goods. It sdounds crazy but you can ask the
tourist police to escort you to your hotel, and they really look like soldiers. I spend the rest
of the early evening with finalizing my deal with Skybolivia for my plans for the coming
days , mountainbiking, amazon jungle tour and pampas tour ( a la Pantanal). And now its
time to find some food.

Adios
Danny