Ahh,
it’s so nice to only wake once in a coughing fit but luckily managed to get
back to sleep. I got up for breakfast at 9 before Rowan and I made our way to
the Moorish church where they bless cars on a daily basis. The cars were dressed
up in flowers and then a priest comes to bless the car throwing what I can only
assume is holy water onto the car and says a prayer. After the priest is done
the owner throws petals, rice etc over and inside his car, then sprays it with
champagne and finally lights a pack of tom thumbs. It was an interesting ritual
and there were many cars, old and new, coming to do the same thing.
After
watching a few of these rowan and I took a walk around town taking a few
pictures and we even got threatened with a sling shot by a shop owner for
taking pictures. We walked around a little more before going up the hill to the
cemetery which has great panoramic views of Copacabana and lake Titicaca.
We
then made out way back down and to our hostel to grab some WiFi and our bags
before meeting Tina and Dom for lunch where we all got rid of the last of our
Bolivianos. We then went to the bus where we got shouted at for only being 20
minutes early. We got some seats and made our way about 10 minutes to the
border where we had our passports stamped. We then had to walk up and over a
hill through an arch to find the immigration office to get our Peru entry
stamp. It was quick and easy and I was stamped in in 2025. Fortunately I
noticed this and pointed it out to them and they changed it back by correcting
their stamp and restamping about 20 times.
We then continued into Peru where I got some
sleep on the bus before stopping in puno. At the bus station the bus driver (a
small round energetic guy) sold us some tickets to Cusco before giving us a
lift in his car to get to ATM to get some Soles so we could pay for the
tickets. From there we went to our hostel (lucky your house) before booking
some tours for the next day and finding a beer.
We went to a rock bar a few blocks from us (and
the main square) before going to a cafe for dinner and returned to the rock bar
for a few more beers before making our way back to the hostel for an early
night.