Isla del Sol & the road through Bolivia

Our previous day of bus, bus, boat, then hiking up an Incan staircase to subpar accommodations was obviously less than ideal. However, I woke up at 6:30 after a great night's sleep. I checked with Mer and she was feeling her stuffed sinuses and effects our our highest altitude yet. I decided to get up and try find a good view of the sunrise. I was not disappointed. 

The only noises I heard were the hoofclaps of the donkeys carrying water up the mountain. Later I heard the competitive barks of local dogs, but it was very clear and very quiet. 

After taking some pictures, I came back to check on Mer. She was more awake and, after getting vertical, felt a lot better. We packed up and headed down to try to find a place for breakfast before getting on the boat. Again, the place said they had wifi, but it didn't work. I eventually climbed the rest of the way down to buy boat tickets, but they were closed still. I did get a shot of the Incan staircase we climbed the day before with our packs on. 

And one of Mer waiting for breakfast. 

Eventually, we went down to the beach and played word games after buying our ticket for the boat. The boat we boarded was much smaller than the one the day before. It ran out of seats and we were relegated to the floor.

Eventually, after choppy waters that do so well on Mer's stomach stability, we made it back to Copacabana. I raced up to buy our ticket for La Paz (we were both OVER this area, and weren't willing to stay any longer than necessary). Then we found a restaurant nearby again chosen because they advertised wifi. Again, it didn't work well (notice a theme?). It was there, as our drinks arrived I noticed a familiar face. Not only from Texas, not only a teacher, but one who went through the same TTF program and also teaches in Manor! Incredibly small world to run into someone you know in a restaurant in a passing town like Copacabana, Bolivia. 

Our bus to La Paz then boarded at 1330. Geographically interesting is the peninsula we were on is completely surrounded by Peruvian land. Thus the La Paz bus is forced to go over Lake Titicaca via ferry. We all had to unboard, pay a ferry fee, and then reboard the bus on the other side. Always a first for everything, I guess. 

Luckily, the boat ride came at just a point that we were getting hot and Mer was feeling sick. On the other side, vendors were selling all kinds of goods including Bolivian jello. It was perfect for settling an upset stomach. 

The rest of our trip into La Paz was pretty uneventful. You can see it sprawled out in this photo. 

They also had some cool art. 

And we got a few shots of the local women loaded with things on their backs. 

Finally, we pulled into the busy La Paz bus station. 

That's where our tough decisions started.  The next place on our itinerary was the salt flats in Uyuni. When we met my fellow teacher in Copacabana, he mentioned a text his friend got from a friend saying only that Uyuni was closed. We found that tiny rumor to be true once we got to La Paz. There were 3 bus lines with service to Uyuni. All of them were "closed until further notice."

Now what? Our first instinct was to find our next destination: the border town of Villazón. We found a bus leaving in 2 hours. Then, we stopped for a moment and thought about punting in our plans. Maybe we could go to the silver-rich town of Potosí. We checked on four different bus lines and all were sold out. Perhaps the setting sun and unexpected prospect of staying in La Paz fueled our decision, but we went with our instinct. We bought two tickets for Villazón. The guidebook said it was 23 hours. The woman selling the tickets said 16 hours. We found a quick dinner at a bus station cafeteria, bought snacks for the long ride, and then checked in our luggage. Then we boarded the bus. 

Prayers were necessary.