Apologies in advance. A very wordy post but lots to say about this day...
We travelled by public bus to La Paz but this one was in a whole different world to the last one, and not a world we want to visit again.
The bus was late arriving at the bus terminal and when it did it didn't look promising. The windows of the bus were double glazed with tinted windows on the outside of inner 'clear' ones and the front tinted one on this one was shattered. We were hurried onboard and when I sat in my seat I reclined straight onto the person behind me. I watched a couple of others do the same. I could sit but not lean back on my seat or it just reclined. The bus was full so there was no changing seats.
I'll go as far as to say tourPeru seems to be a pretty **** bus company. It got so much worse...
Last view of Lake Titicaca, from Peru
In the bright sunshine and the thin air of the Altoplano the bus quickly heated up like an oven. We sat there expecting the driver to switch on the aircon but he didn’t, even when he was asked to by one of us melting passengers. Finally, after two hours, and only after the co-driver came back into the bus (there was a door between where the drivers sat and the rest of the bus), he switched the aircon on.
We had less than an hour of cool air before we arrived at the border crossing town of Desaguadero.
We piled off the bus and Carlos directed us to the money changers. I changed some Euros into Bolivianos at what I thought was a pretty ordinary rate but it turned out to be very close to the XE buy rate.
Looking towards Bolivia
Carlos introduced us to our Bolivian guide Marisol. It was never really explained why Carlos couldn’t continue on with us but I suppose by changing guides it supports jobs for Bolivians?
A guide makes a group tour and Carlos was fantastic. Out of four Intrepid trips, Carlos is head and shoulders above the others. He was organised. He was caring. He was patient. He is proud of, and loves his homeland of, Peru and so he should be. Peru is an amazing place and we can’t wait to revisit.
The Peruvian part of the process was painless. The Bolivian immigration process not so much. I really don’t know how long we shuffled along in the sun, on the side of a dusty road, then into a really hot building, to get a stamp from a surly Bolivian border guard. An hour? 75 minutes? However long it was it was too long and it was just another nail in the ‘why does Intrepid bother going to Bolivia’ coffin.
We trickled out of the immigration building and the assitant bus driver directed us down to where the bus was parked.
Before I forget – Carlos had told us not to take pictures of Bolivians unless we first asked permission. We had no issue with this as we’d been told this in other places as well. Why don't we always do this? Why should we presume that someone wants to be in one of our happy snaps? I'm as bad as the next photographer in doing this. I'm going to make an effort going forward.
Surprisingly the aircon was as we pulled out of Desaguadero.
I waved goodbye to my last view of Lake Titicaca
and drove towards La Paz. It was obvious there wasn’t the same money in Bolivia as there was in Peru. The roads weren’t as well maintained. The towns didn’t look as prosperous. It just looked 'poorer'.
We continued higher up on to the Altoplano.
Then... the bus broke down. We slowed for some roadworks and then when the driver tried to put the bus back into gear it wouldn't. We couldn't have been more than an hour from La Paz. It was too hot to sit on the bus so we sat outside in the sun.
At one point a minivan pulled up and after having a chat with our drivers the van driver went and got a handful of what looked like wire. Our drivers crawled under the bus multiple times and fiddled around but nothing got the bus moving.
Marisol was on and off the phone but told us nothing. Eventually, after 90 minutes, she decided she’d come talk to us. Only then it was possibly because Al and I had just confronted her and I'd told her that her communication was cough.
After the whole bus, except for our Intrepid group and one family of four, had decamped into minivans, Marisol finally decided we should do it to. She made another call, two pulled up, we loaded our luggage on to the roof and got in. No seat belts. Lovely hs&e.
Then miraculously the drivers got our bus into gear and it moved. I'm guessing a couple of strands of the bundle of wire were holding fast. So we unloaded the minivans, Marisol handed the drivers some cash for their trouble and we got back on the bus. We all held our breath as we slowly picked up speed.
As we reached El Alto, the air con went off again, and stayed off for the last 40 minutes until we reached the La Paz bus station.
That driver was a total f@&% wit and the bus was unsafe and I’d go with unroadworthy.
Our tour wasn't cheap. Intrepid shouldn't skimp and should never use tourPeru ever again.
Rant over.
). Sleeping in thermals, I got out from under the six or so blankets (Al wouldn’t sleep in the same bed to keep me warm!), pulled my shoes on, grabbed my torch and dashed across the courtyard. 
