On Wednesday, January 20th I arrived at Kasani the border between Peru and Bolivia around 6:20 Peru time to note that this border post of Peru opens at 7:00 for the immigration and 8:00 for the customs. I waited to obtain a exit stamp on my passport, two minutes, and another stamp on the license to circulate, two other minutes, for one hour forty of waiting. The barrier was opened at 8:00. To the border post of Bolivia the immigration was opened, two minutes to obtain a visa of only 30 days. Then on the recommendation of the customs I went to the shop of photocopy to make the photo of my passport and the automobile license and to make fill the data-processing form of the license to circulate, strange; but alas the computer broke down. I returned to the customs, the customs officer noted that actually it was the computer of La Paz which had made a shutdown. After a phone call with Paz and waiting consequently for the restarting of the computer I obtained the ad hoc document at 9:45. I could enter Bolivia. At the two border posts there is nothing to pay. The town of Copacabana is to 8 km.
I made a simple stop in Copacabana to take money at Caja Automatica of the Banco Union. The downtown area was interdict for traffic. I went my way to go to visit Tiwanaku, already seen thirty years ago. The road skirts the Lake Titicaca in sumptuous landscapes. At the village of San Pedro de Tiquina it is necessary to take a ferry to cross an arm of the lake. The road curves on the plate dominating the lake at an altitude ranging between 3830 and 3860 meters.
I reached Tiwanaku around 16:00, Bolivia time. Indeed Bolivia is at UTC -04:00 whereas Peru is at UTC -5:00. The ticketing of the site closes at 16:00. The bivouac on the carpark is authorized. I settled there for the night. Alas around 19:00 a humming of helicopter disturbed silence. Then a few moment later of the police officers informed me to release the place because an official ceremony will take place on the carpark. I wandered in the village to find a street peaceful for the night. It was it with a night temperature of 10°C. It was a day ordinary with the usual disappointments.
|
On Thursday, January 21th around 9:00 I began the visit of the archeological site and the two museums of Tiwanaku which orthography is varied: Tiahuanaco or Tihuanaco. It is true that the civilization of Tiwanaku extends from 600 BC to 1200 AD. The ceremonial site was completed towards 700 AD. The archeological site presents few monuments except the famous Gate of the Sun and some that monumental sculptures. On the other hand Museo Ceramico and Museo Litico expose one of the potteries and the other of the very interesting steles, but No Photo. I took some in spite of the vigilance of the guards. The first shows the technology of bronze by explaining the differences between the Andean sites. The highlight is the stele Bennett Pachamama.
|
TThen I took the road for La Paz with a certain apprehension of traffic. After Bogota, Quito and Lima navigation in La Paz was my worst experiment. My two digital maps, Navteq 2013 and OpenStreetMap 2016 are of course not up to date. But fortunately the structure of the streets is quadrangular. As in all these countries the worst is the collectivo driving which uncouple without traffic indicator for hunting of customers. The suburbs extend on the plateau at approximately 3800 m made up of red brick houses bordering of broad avenues in becoming which current roadway is a succession of pot-holes and topes involving a very impressive dance of collectivos. I extracted some scenes from my dashcamera for a short video. I made food supply in a Hipermaxi on Avenida Costanera - S 16° 32.748 ' W 068° 04.197 ' - then I bivouacked in a street of nowhere.
| Embarrassments into Paz |
 |
 |
On Friday, January 22th I left with regrets the bivouac of nowhere to install me on the carpark of the Oberland Hotel in Mallasa, well-known by travellers, to profit from electricity, WiFi connection, shower and water. Moreover I could travel by taxi for Plaza Péres Valasco downtown area by leaving the truck under surveillance.
|
Saturday, January 23th I accompanied my Swiss friends for a walk in the cable car in two sections which starts from approximately 3200 m to stop with 4000 meters of altitude. It was built two years ago by a Swiss company. The view of the city staging itself on the blank of the mountain is very dramatic. There are thirty years while coming from the airport the mini-van had stopped to see the city downwards. Of course there was no construction. Then back to downtown area we walked in Mercado Negro and Mercado Hechiceria. We returned in collectivo around 13:00 to the carpark of the Oberland Hotel.
|
