PowerCycle

08/30 Hello Bolivia! No problems at the border other than the big ass hill you have to ride up to get to immigration. Why do they do that? It seems to happen a lot. They stamped me in for 90 days which should give me plenty of time to tour around. Having a Canadian passport sure came in handy because they charge US passport holders $135 to get in. As a Canuck I didn’t have to pay anything. The exchange rate with the US is 1 U.S. dollar = 7.01 Bolivian bolivianos so I’ll have to get used to bigger bills again. The time zone changed to GMT -4 so I’m back in sync with Miami and Atlanta. No more, “Oh I didn’t realize it’s so late there…” calls. It’ll be nice to have the extra hour of sun too.

I’m staying at the 3 star Hotel Esterlar Del Titicaca. I rode around to 8 or 9 different places trying to find a place with wifi. A couple places even told me no one had wifi. I thought that was a bit of a scam to get me to stay there and sure enough it was. This place is perfect. It’s right on the beach and my window overlooks the lake (and there’s a private balcony!), the room is huge, the door frames are high enough so I won’t crack my head on them, there’s cable TV (not that I care), the shower is nice and hot and yes, there’s wifi. All this for only $11.50 a night. I’ll be here 2 nights before heading out.

Copacabana (pop. 6000) is a bit of a touristy place but it doesn’t seem over done like a couple places in Peru. For example, I haven’t seen any traditionally dressed women walking around with baby llamas so gringos can take their picture. There are quite a few gringos walking around, and sadly I think I spotted a couple hippies. I’ll do the walking tour tomorrow and check everything out.

GPX track