Long way from Puno to Uyuni – how a strike changes your plans

For once we had a quite tight schedule for a few days. We had arrived back to Puno from Cusco to continue our journey to La Paz, Bolivia. We had booked one night in Puno because we could not cross the Bolivian border in the night. But then… We heard that there would be a strike/road block in Puno the next two days and no buses would come or leave Puno during that time. We had already been in Puno before and really didn’t feel like spending two more days there. Even if Johan and Maria would’ve also been there 😃

We discussed the issue with our hostel’s (HomeCenter Puno) receptionist and they told us that there would be a speed boat going from Puno to Yunguyo, close to Bolivia’s border. The boat should have left at 7am, but it left around 7.20am. The ride should’ve been 3,5 hours, but it was about 5 hours. We were expecting to come to a harbor, but instead we stopped in shallow water. Everyone was wondering what happened and then we noticed a small ROWING boat with two people in it. We then realized that the rowing boat was there to transport all apprx. 40 people and the luggage to the shore. The boat was leaking and the bottom was covered in water. We came to the main land and there the rowing boat couple wanted money. We had asked before if we had to pay anything extra and the hostel said no. We felt that it was not okay to ask the passengers for money – the couple should’ve asked the boat company for extra compensation instead.

After the interesting boat trip, we took a “taxi” to the border of Peru and Bolivia. First we had to go through the immigration of Peru, which went quite easy. Then we walked a few hundred meters and entered the immigration of Bolivia. We had heard that people sometimes have to pay a small “fee” to make the process quicker. This didn’t happen this time. But the line was long and slow. There was only one person behind the immigration desk and the other was playing games with his mobile. After going through the immigration procedures, we had to find a way to get to Copacabana. There was a minibus close by and the driver shouted “Copacabana, Copacabana”. We entered the minibus. The price was 4 bolivianos/person. We waited and waited. We realized that the minibus would not move until it was completely full. We decided to go out and take a normal taxi. When Markus went out, he said to the driver that we would take a normal taxi. The driver said that would cost 20 bolivianos. As we had a tight schedule, Markus said that it would not matter. The driver said that he can start driving. When we came to Copacabana, the driver wanted 20 bolivianos from us “because you wanted a taxi”. We said that we would pay the 4 just like everyone else. We had met one guy from Ecuador, Alberto, and he talked with the driver and said to him that he needs to do things according to the law. We paid 4 bolivianos and left.

Entering Bolivia, people filling in forms

Then we had to find a bus to La Paz. There was again a minibus or then a bigger bus. We were told that the bigger bus would not leave before 3pm (it was a bit over 1pm at the time), so we took the smaller bus. This decision was not good. A) the minibus took some small roads going through all construction areas and houses and B) there was no space for legs or backpacks or anything. It took maybe 5 hours with the minibus to get to La Paz and the bus didn’t even drive to the bus station! It just dropped everyone at some street corner. We had to then take another taxi to get to the bus station. The bigger bus surely drove directly to the bus station, we believe. At one point we had to cross a river and the "boats" that drove the buses to the other side didn't feel too safe, but they managed to get our bus to the other side. 

Transportation for buses

We managed to find our bus company, Todo Turismo, and checked in. At this point we were really hungry, because we had not really eaten anything in about 12 hours. We walked through the streets nearby and all places were just chicken stands! Finally we found a place that made a vegetarian sandwich to Edda and gave a portion of rice to her too.

Then it was time to take an apprx. 10-hour ride from La Paz to Uyuni. We had front seats in the second level of the bus and it was really cold. It is good to have extra clothes, especially for the legs! We got dinner on the bus, and it was surprisingly good. After a long bus ride we woke up in Uyuni, and found our way to Red Planet from where we had booked our Uyuni Salt Flat tour. More of this in our next post!