Wow! Now that was quite the bus journey!!! Saved the best for last??? Not!!! Filthy bus, no bathroom, it smelled, and the window came a long ways from sealing, so there was a frigid wind and the loud engine noise all night, not to mention the diesel fumes from the exhaust. Good thing I got warm clothes out! I was still shivering a few times!!! Didn't sleep much, that's for sure! The vibration of the bus kept making the window slide open, so sometimes the cold woke me up, and sometimes it was the Incan lady behind us who kept playing with my hair all night!!!!! Toooo ridiculous!!! I would wake up, and she would be twirling it in her fingers and occasionally patting my head!! Haha! I wasn't really sure how one handles that.... Sierra was less tolerant. She moved her head, pretended to accidentally whack her hand away, and eventually resorted to some dirty looks. Hahaha. I thought it was kinda funny, but remember that this is after a full day and night on a fairly, no make that an extremely uncomfortable bus, crackers cheese and a granola bar for supper, and shivering through the night. She could be excused for being intolerant about her personal space bubble!! Haha! The truth is that not all cultures are very open to others, and the people on the bus were not very friendly, not horribly rude, but no assistance for people who obviously didn't know how things are done. It just gets tiresome. You try to buy food, and you are ignored. You ask where the bathroom is, and they just stare at you. I'm not sure if it was a communication thing or not, but I doubt it. They all know enough Spanish to do business, and surely know the word "banos" or bathroom. More crackers and cheese for breakfast, fruit for lunch, and around 2 ( which is typical SA lunch time) a lady who was riding the bus got up and started selling little pastry things that were very good. We were pretty sick of crackers, so it was a nice surprise. La Paz is a large town with predominately Incan culture. They remind me of the Hutterites or Amish. A very closed society with many different factions. You can tell they are different by subtle differences in dress. Some wear bowler hats, others a blanket over thier heads, others wear ornate hats with tassels. All the women braid thier hair. Some use gaudy children's baubles at the ends. Others use special dyed balls of wool tied at the ends. They all bundle everything in brightly colored blankets, and get angry if someone takes thier picture. In Peru they solicit photo ops, but want payment. Kinda an interesting place, but since it was snowing and there was mud everywhere, and we had time left in the day we decided to push on and cross into Peru. This border crossing was done on the bus ( we got off at the border) and went quite smoothly. We will arrive in Puno around 10pm, and hopefully will find a place to stay. We have nothing booked. Puno is on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca. It is a bit more expensive than the Bolivian side, but we are happy to be back in Peru. It almost feels like coming home. There is some familiarity since we have been here before, and know how things go. Peru is very tourist friendly. Much like Mexico- they chase you down the street to get you to buy things, but will happily give you assistance with any question. 3 days left before we fly home. We are both happy that the hard parts of the trip are over now. we are ready to come home.