And so adios Peru, hola Bolivia. The picture attached to this entry is me walking over the border.

A day of travel. The first bus, from Puno to Copacabana on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca was very comfortable. You have to get off the bus at the border and go through border control on both sides on foot. A little time consuming but painless. A practical note for any that need it - you could easily pass through avoiding both controls. Dunno, might come in useful at some point!

The nice bus ends in Copacabana, no idea why as the same company operates the subsequent torturemobile. Copacabana (after which the beach in Rio was named) is a backpacker hotspot and a base to visit the Islas del Sol y de la Luna on the Bolivian side of the lake. Both are important in pre-Inca and Inca history. Seemed a pleasant enough place, very chilled out, but not on our agenda.

So, onto torture bus. An ancient, bog standard coach with mostly broken seats. We got two of the back seats and folded ourselves into these for the 5 hour journey. I had to spend most of the journey pushing the seat in front to stop it fully reclining on me. The only respite was when we all had to get off at a point where the road crosses the lake. The rickety ferry on which the bus crosses the lake clearly can't take the weight of a fully laden bus - a little worrying!

Needless to say, the landscape through which we passed was stunning. I need to come up with some new adjectives.

Entering La Paz is an event. After spending an hour or so driving through El Alto, the enormous city/suburb on the high altitude plains, you turn a corner and the ground to the right of the road suddenly falls away. Some 500m below you in a huge valley lies the city of La Paz, surrounded by snow capped mountains. It is an amazing sight.

We checked into our hostel and headed out for dinner. The guide recommended a Dutch owned place which served a variety of beers, wines and great food. Best meal in ages, an excellent introduction to the city.