Bolivia – Juli to Copacabana, Bolivia (63k/19,780k, 800ft)

(September 1 – written by Dave)

This will be just a quick post to let everyone know that we made it into Bolivia safely. We had a nice 50k ride to the border, mostly with a tailwind but with a 15k headwind section as well. Our route mostly took us along scenic Lake Titicaca but the wind coming off the lake was quite strong and our road not so straight – thus both head and tailwinds. After the border, we had 10k of headwinds to reach Copacabana but we knew the end was close by then so we just cruised into town.

The border was super easy – less than an hour to get out of Peru and into Bolivia.

Money changers were easy to find and rates were fair.

We didn’t get a phone SIM – missed the shop’s closing hour by 5 minutes.

Tonight we are staying in Copacabana in the Hotel Utama (in a different hotel than Philipp and Tine). Our hotel room has amazing views out to the lake and the city. This afternoon, the four of us took a steep walk up to the lookout over town and it was such a nice afternoon/evening, we stayed to watch the sunset. We later met up with a nice couple from the UK (Emma and Cameron – https://ontheroadtohappiness.org) from our hotel and the 6 of us went out to dinner – thus the late and short post.

So far, Bolivia is good – though it is hard to have much of an impression with only half a day so we’ll add more to this later. We have two days to ride now to reach La Paz. We are still not sure where we will stay there and not having a SIM presents a few navigational challenges but we lived for years without smartphones so we’ll figure it out. We may not get another post out until La Paz but we’ll see what we can find tomorrow night.

Photos from the day: