We left on Thursday and took a bus from Cochabamba to the capital of La Paz. It is a 7 hour bus ride and was a long trip, but it was made more enjoyable with the company of the Forbesses. The most uncomfortable part was not being able to go to the bathroom very often (when you’re 2 months pregnant, that’s even worse!). I had to ask the driver to stop at one point and reverted to my missionary kid experiences of going to the bathroom in the middle of nowhere (i.e. find a covered spot and squat!) But we made it safe and sound, and because it was my birthday weekend, we put up in a nice hotel in La Paz and ate at a superb Middle Eastern restaurant (I don’t know when food tasted that good!)
The next day we took a 4 hour bus to Copacabana on the border of Bolivia and Peru. One of the highlights of our trip was being able to see the spectacular scenery of Bolivia. Copacabana is on Lake Titicaca, one of the largest lakes in the world and also the highest navigable lake in the world. We had to cross a section of the lake on a ferry, and as it was a little windy, the experience was slightly terrifying. I was sure our little ferry was going to capsize at any minute! Once in Copacabana, we took a taxi to the border and proceeded to fill out the paperwork required to leave and reenter the country. After some hassles with the border officials (at one point they told us we would have to stay in Peru for 24 hours before returning to Bolivia!), we acquired the coveted stamps in our passports and made the 4 hour bus trip back to La Paz.
After another pleasant night in our hotel, we boarded another bus back to Cochabamba, this time a “bus cama” or “sleeper bus” with a bathroom for my pregnant body. Unfortunately, after on the road, we discovered the bathroom was out of order. You can’t win for losing! All in all, Michaela and Jubilee did an excellent job with all the traveling. They really enjoyed playing together on the bus, and it made the trip much more bearable to have the Forbesses along. I enjoyed aspects of the trip (although I can’t say I enjoyed every moment), but at least we got our visas, and Josh got his travel bug out of his system (at least for the time being!)
Crossing Lake Titicaca
Crossing the Peruvian Border
On the Bus
Lake Titicaca
3 comments:
Speaking of getting stamps in your passport, I had to renew my passport this year. In fact, I'm still waiting to recieve it in the mail. It's a bit depressing knowing that when it arrives, there will be absolutely no stamps in it. It will be an empty, unused, stiff little book. Not like my old one that I had to have extra pages put in because it was getting to full. In fact, another year or two and I'd have to get a second set of new pages put in. I'm going to miss my old passport. Mostly because I know that as we grow and mature in life and responsiblities, our passports get used less and less. I guess it's good that our identity is not tied up in our identification and that ultimately, the one place that we all hope to travel to doesen't give a rip about our passports. Christ has already given us His stamp of approval. But I am looking forward to getting a Bolivian stamp in my passport someday. God Bless, Rusty.
That was a cool story, thanks guys...
Brett
Hey Marcums! I was surfing through Rusty and Laura's blog and saw that they had you as a link. What a find! You guys have quite a spirit of adventure!! I'm going to enjoy reading these blogs.
Blessings,
Ben
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