The Witches Market..

Guest post on India Bazars here... :)
Can also be found on Lonely Planet

Meena

Scenes from La Paz..

Of newspaper clippings and war heroes who live on..

Unfortunately we had no clue what was on print. We only had an inkling that it was something interesting when a couple of people got the paper and stood engrossed, some walking away slowly like they had been taken over by the content...

Crossing Over.. (From Peru to Bolivia)

Its not often that I've crossed over from one country into the next.. A pedestrian bus, halted on the border its passengers getting off to have their passports checked. The border control a small dimly lit office, with two guards not very menacing looking standing outside ushering the lines of tourists shuffling in..
We took the bus from Puno in Peru, having visited the floating islands of Titicaca and not wanting to linger on in Puno any longer. Puno save the islands did not have much to offer. It was extremely touristy and small as it was, we were done walking the few streets the previous evening..

The drive to La Paz was beautiful. We wound our  way round roads hugging the mountain side , never once steering clear of the beautiful waters of Lake Titicaca.  Her mood was definitely a different shade of blue to what we found in Peru. We caught some pics on the mobile , as the camera had lost charge..

Lake Titicaca..

We were in and out of border control in half an hour. We had to change buses at this point. We hauled our luggage and hurried to the bus stop. I was already panicking as we were a little late.. The better half assures me that the bus will not leave without us.. This only makes me walk faster.. :)

Border Control - Bolivia

We board our bus in Copacabana on the Bolivian border. Pity we don't get to see much of this city. I've read and heard so much about Copacabana, that I feel sad that our encounter with her is barely fleeting.
Our journey inside Bolivia was fairly uneventful until the bus pulled over and we all disembarked...
We were told we would have to take the ferry and our bus would be ferried too..
I have never seen anything like this before. It was chilly and pulling our jackets closer for warmth, we hurried to buy tickets. We got onto the ferry. It was dark. The ferry was packed. There were about 8 life jackets for the entire boat. The motor roars to life and the boat moves swiftly along, its noisy passengers punctuating the otherwise silent night..
And then the boat stopped. A problem with the engine we are told. At this point there nothing much we can do but sit and wait...
Ten minutes later we are on our way..

Crossing Lake Titicaca

Once on the other side , we await our bus. The scenes unfolding are intriguing. As we stand a truck is ferried across in a what looks like  a huge flat boat being rowed across the river. Take a few pictures.
Its freezing . There's nothing much around this place.  After what seems like a looooong time our bus arrives. And we are on our way to La Paz..

Meena Venkataraman