Our taxi arrived at the hotel promptly at 6.45am as requested, we were not quite so prompt though. We had to rush our breakfast and finish the last of our packing as the driver patiently waited.

We still made it to the bus terminal on time and the Titicaca counter to check in 30 minutes before departure. We had booked our tickets, and reserved particular seats, nearly a week ago, but the counter guy says our seats are occupied so we need to have 2 seats at the back of the bus next to the toilet. Seems like the guy who sold us the tickets in Cusco forgot to tell us we had to go to the Puno counter to confirm the tickets and that of course was our fault and not the company's. This wasn't a great start to the day and we felt very annoyed with the service. When the bus finally left, there were 2 free seats near the front where we originally reserved so we just moved.

The road towards the border skirted along the lakeside and the 2.5 hours seemed to go really quickly. It took us by surprise when the driver's assistant told us we would be arriving shortly and talked us through the border crossing procedure in great detail.

The border procedure was slightly different here, we first had to go the police station to get our Andes Immigration Card stamped. We then had to take this next door to the immigration office to get an exit stamp in our passport and leave the card with them.

We then had to walk 300m across no-mans land into Bolivia and queue for the immigration office there. Even though we were one of the first from our bus across the border, the queue was quite long and very slow moving. When we finally reached the front of the counter we were not asked any questions, just had our passports stamped right away. What did seem to take time though was the scanning of the passport ID page into their system.

We only took about 30 minutes with the formalities but had to wait for the rest of the people from the bus for nearly another hour. We were beginning to worry a bit about the time it was taking because we needed to check in at Las Olas by 2pm latest otherwise our room would be given away to someone on the waiting list (apparently it's that popular). Fortunately the bus driver was getting a bit impatient too, he had to get to La Paz after Copacabana so he started honking the horn and driving the bus away slowly. The problem was perhaps that we had been told to change money on the Peruvian side which led to people being stuck behind another two bus loads. We had already changed money in Cusco and Puno so we were in front of the queue.

Cocacabana is only a few minutes drive from the border so we were soon there and walking the couple of blocks uphill and through Hotel La Cupula where Andy and Carlee were staying and enjoying the sun on the terrace. We checked in at Las Olas and were walked down through the maze of paths to Suite 6. It was lower down on the hill and the bottom floor of a huge round house but ours had the advantage of a big private garden. Inside was equally as impressive, there was a massive triangular bed, a small kitchen, and table and chairs looking out the wall of of windows towards the bay. Even the bathroom was impressive with big wooden bowls for basins and twin showers. There were even some plants growing in the bathroom.

We had some lunch at La Cupula which was okay but very slow. Afterwards we sorted out our trip to Isla del Sol and accommodation in La Cupula on our return since Las Olas is fully booked for the next week and bit.

Andy and Carlee gave us a guided tour through the centre to show us where the ATM was and where we could buy what at the shops. It's a bit different to normal in that there is no supermarket, just hundreds of small dairies and an equally small market.

We booked dinner at an Italian restaurant at the bottom of the stairs from Las Olas and then went to our garden for some pre-dinner drinks. It was great having the space and the peace and quiet for a change to enjoy a chat and watch sun drop over the lake.

Dinner at the Italian was our first proper meal in Bolivia and after the fine food in Peru, it was a bit of a let down. Even though the restaurant was supposed to be the best Italian in town, the pasta was bit overcooked and bland.

Las Olas had a hot tub that we booked for an hour after dinner. It was a nice way to finish off an evening, sitting in the warm water with a drink in hand, looking at all the stars above.