My last night shift before I start my raya holidays. High time I finish what I started hehe.
So just to recap some of the characters I mentioned, there's the Dwarf Hat Guy and The Aviator from Germany... hmm I think that's it (that are central to this second part anyway). I doubt anybody is paying attention to my ramblings, I tend to assume nobody really reads everything that I write (but if you are, thank you!). Don't worry this one is gonna be a short one I think.
So we were still on Isla del Sol, and while waiting for the boat to bring us back to Copacabana, we hung out with the young germans fresh out of high school, traveling the world (or in this case South America because its cheaper than traveling in Europe) for a few months before embarking on their next phase in life, university. How I wish I did that before. But then again, I didn't have any money out of high school. And my traveling desires were still dormant.. or non-existent.. or still under-developed.. or whatever.
The boat finally came, we went on it. TH and CG sat at the lower deck, where they were shaded from the sun and protected from the cold wind, SB and I went to the upper deck. Turns out, Dwarf Hat Guy and The Aviator were sitting at the bow, so we joined them, sort of, with another guy from Brazil.
At the top deck with Brazilian Guy, early twenties, not that his age matters, or does it?
The Aviator and Dwarf Hat Guy at the bow, below us. We exchanged and shared biscuits. Aww...
We talked about random stuff, where we've been to and what not. I couldn't help bringing up Michael Schumacher to the Germans, so we talked about F1 a little bit. The Germans love Schumi, and I love Schumi, and we were lamented about his underperforming comeback. A good few minutes later, the boat slowed down and finally stopped. We thought nothing, continued on chatting. After some time, it became slightly noisy on the boat and we got word that we had to change to another boat because the one we were on was out of fuel. Dutifully, we queued up to jump to the other boat, which was much much smaller than the one we were on, and it looked like there was not going to be enough space hahaha. I wasn't really worried thought. However, suddenly one of the ladies (a local) that already crossed to the other side was wailing and screaming at the same time, hands stretched out. Turned out her kid has still not crossed, I think she was worried they might be separated since the other boat was small and all, there might not be space for everyone. It was quite a commotion really, I haven't crossed yet myself, and I wondered whether I might be left behind as well, should the other boat become over with capacity. But like I said, I wasn't even the slightest bit worried of being left behind, yes I was that confident that everything will be alright, haha. No point being worried unless I absolutely have to worry, which at that point I didn't think there was anything to be worried about.
Waiting to jump over to the other boat
So again, we went to sit at the upper deck. This time there were a group of Brazilians, friends of the one we befriended with earlier. The Germans also joined, so we were one big happy family of backpackers up there, bravely bracing the cold, acting superior when really we were trembling (or maybe it was just me). Finally we were on our way, on one of the slowest boat rides I've ever been on. No kidding. But it was good really because if it went any faster, we would be freezing from the cold wind.
The flag on the left represents the various indigenious people in Bolivia, on the right is the Bolivian flag.
We chatted about a lot of things, mostly about traveling. Since we were going to Brazil for our final leg of the 3-week trip, I asked them to teach us some useful phrases in Brazilian. It was quite a funny session, the Brazilians started saying how the French are a softies and lembik, 'pussy' if you will, for lack of a better word. One of the word used for example to explain why this is so, is the difference between how the Brazilians and French say 'merde'. If you don't know already, merde means shit. Lets see if I can explain this. According to them, the French says the word as it is.. 'merde', but the Brazilians will say it with more power, more conviction, more macho.. 'MERDE!'. Hahahahaha. Hmm I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say here. It was funny, and incidentally I brought the book 'Merde Actually' by Stephen Clarke to read on the trip. I always bring a story book on all my travels. Whether I have time to read it or not, is a different matter altogether.
We were having fun and all, suddenly our guide came up to the top deck to discuss an issue that concerned everyone on the boat. They were all speaking in Spanish so SB and I didn't understand what was going on initially. As it turned out, the guide was asking us to pay another 10 soles per person for riding on this boat, eventhough we had already paid for the boat ride to and fro between Copacabana and Isla del Sol, because this boat was not the boat that we paid for. So they argued, its not our problem is it? Your boat was out of fuel, it was not our fault, we already paid for the rides, regardless of which boat we ride on, so why should we pay again? One of the Brazilians kind of took the lead and became The Negotiator (I just love giving these nicknames!)
The guide went down to talk to the boat driver, and came back a few minutes later and told us, the driver was threatening to stop the boat if we don't pay up. Hahahaha. It was ridiculous. After more discussion, The Negotiator, who became the de facto leader so to speak, disagreed and decided on behalf of all of us that we don't want to pay. Mind you 10 soles was a meagre amount but I guess it was about principles. The guide went down to convey the message to the driver, then he came again and said the driver was willing to receive payment from us only, not everyone on the boat. 'Us' being the ones sitting on the upper deck only. At this point I thought it was getting even more ridiculous. We asked the guide why single us out? The ones on the upper deck. What about the rest of the passengers on the boat? Not only it was ridiculous, it was grossly unfair! I was actually having fun at this point, because the whole situation was really funny, and we were making jokes about it all. Finally the guide came again, I'm not exactly sure what happened, as I said it was all in Spanish, but I guess The Negotiator managed to convince the guide and we ended up not having to pay up. Hehe. Muy Buena!
The guide telling us to pay up or else..
The Negotiator
At one point on the boat, I had a conversation with The Aviator which went something like this...
Me: Do you know Jenson Button?
The Aviator: Yeah, I do. The British F1 driver.
Me: I think you look like him.
The Aviator: Really? I think he's kinda good looking, isn't he?
Me: Yeah he is!
The Aviator: (laughed). Well I think its the sunglasses (and took it off).
Me: (laughed) Yeah I agree..
After the whole Pay-Up-Or-Else saga, we are about 10 minutes from destination, the Brazilians sang a song. The Negotiator and SB did the Jack and Rose pose, as seen on Titanic.. arms out to the sides at the bow. He first asked me but I told SB to do it instead haha.
The Upper Deck Gang!
So we finally reached the shores of Copacabana, said our farewells, took our bags from the storage and went to look for our bus to go to our next destination, Puno. The bus was leaving soon, but SB and I had to use the bathroom. We went to a public toilet. The toilet had no pumps or anything. You have to flush it down with buckets of water, exactly like the one at my arwah nenek's house in Kelantan. I remember having to use it when we were much younger, and I didn't like it. So anyway, that's not the reason I'm telling this. The crazy thing was, there were locals working in the toilet. Meaning to say, after someone uses the toilet, the lady workers would 'flush' down the toilet, using buckets of water, making 2-3 trips from the tempayan that was holding the water outside. Talk about manual labor! And then when they are satisfied that the toilet is clean for use again, they would provide a bucket of water for the person who wants to use the toilet. It was weird and amusing at the same time. The good thing was, the toilet was clean and there was no unpleasant smell. We were in a hurry but the whole process took quite a few minutes, with the queue and all. But we made it back on time to the bus and all is well.
Puno is in Peru, therefore we were crossing over from Bolivia to Peru on land. At the border, the immigration booth was just a small building, after getting our passports stamped, we had to walk across the border into Peru. The border was so lax, and there was no security personnel or army or police to be seen anywhere. I didn't even feel like I was crossing over to another country haha. Over in Peru, there was a simple immigration building as well, and again, one more stamp for the passport, and we boarded our bus that was already waiting for us, and continued our journey. I slept the whole way.
Leaving Bolivia...
Standing at the same spot, turn 180 degrees.. and we are now entering Peru.
The international border, looking from Peru to Bolivia (where the arch is)
Reached Puno around 9pm, drank free hot coca tea at the backpackers inn, and the next morning went to the airport in Juliaca, a 45-minute ride from Puno. Recently there was a riot in Juliaca and Puno. This particular airport in Juliaca was under siege and had to be closed, although I'm not sure why they rioted. The locals in Puno were opposing the opening of a new silver mine because it would bring about polution. Anyway, from Juliaca, we flew into Cusco.. and Machu Picchu awaits....
A preview of Cusco, the former capital of Peru. View from the airplane, a suburban area in the outskirts of the city.
Hmm not the short entry that I expected to write haha. I am actually surprised that I could recall so much detail even after 7 months, and this is not even everything, because if I were to write all that I remember and experience, I'd have to write a travel book! Thanks for reading :)
