La Paz, Bolivia is the biggest city in Bolivia and very crowded! There is a lot of traffic and many minibuses which work as the official public transport. Basically, you just need to know your destination and where is the potential minibus, which will bring you to your destination. We arrived really early in the city, around 6AM. We grabbed the last 2 seats of the last night bus and it was a nightmare. We were behind the driver, you know the place that looks like a closet without any ventilation. William had to be angry against a young boy who was closing the window (our only source of air) every 30 minutes. It was better after several hours as it became cold on our way to La Paz.
La Paz: Cable Cars and the Witch Market
The people we met in La Paz are still smiling and nice whatever the situation. We spent 3 nights in total in the city and could visit a few nice places. We tried their cable car and it's very useful to cross the whole city! It's very efficient and not crowded. This is how we went to Valle De La Luna which is a nice place for 1 or 2 hours walk to see the different clay formations.
We also did something we hadn't done since our departure from France. We ate French food at an atypical restaurant called Chez Moustache, La Paz. It's worth it! We walked quite a lot in the city and visited the famous witch market. It's not as atypical as 10 years ago but it's still a nice market to buy Alpaca clothes and souvenirs.
Valle de la Luna
Copacabana and Lake Titicaca
After 2 days, we left the city to go to the famous Lake Titicaca which is the largest lake of South America. It's on the border of Bolivia and Peru. According to the travelers we met coming from Peru, the Bolivian side is nicer. It was just around 3 hours to arrive in Copacabana from La Paz. It's a small and charming city on the Titicaca lake with a lot of tourist activities.
Isla del Sol
We spent a night in Copacabana and the next morning went to Isla Del Sol. It's an island that you can reach from the harbor in 1 hour and half (very slow ferry!). La Isla del Sol is a really peaceful place even if it's really touristy. After you pay the ferry, once you put a foot on the pontoon, you will have 2 or 3 persons asking for money to enter on the island. They will not let you pass if you don't pay the entrance fees (10 Bolivianos). It's a bit aggressive from our point of view…
Oh, and by the way, tourists cannot go anymore to the North of the Island. Local people will stop you if you try it. Be careful, it can be dangerous. We had different explanations, but it looks like the real reason is that the people from the South didn't get enough money from tourists compared to the people of the North. Anyway, it's ridiculous!
We went directly to the top and found the perfect spot to drop our tent. We had amazing weather and an amazing sunrise. Check out our pictures!
We came back to La Paz for a night to rest a bit and now we are heading to the Amazônia Forest to meet the crocodiles, fish piranhas and swim with pink Amazon dolphins! We are looking forward to it…
September 25–30, 2018