What an epic day. We started out with a sharp, half hour climb out of Juli, feeling somewhat breathless (partly due to the altitude, partly due to the smoke from all the farmers setting their fields alight).
Once we hit the 3S we had a beautiful 6km descent followed by about 40km gentle rolling slopes with some sections of road purely flat, but all with the wind on our back and all running alongside the lake (that simply gets more beautiful as you head away from Puno and towards Bolivia).
Just before we took a sharp left hand turn towards the Bolivian border we noticed a small whirling of dust, which was actually the start of a tornado impersonating a dust devil. It was fascinating to watch the small swirls start to reach up to the sky and grow bigger and bigger. Thankfully it was only ever a mini tornado at best, and was never a threat, but what a fantastic phenomenon to observe.
As we turned the corner, I pondered how the tornado had formed and after some analysis of the wind direction on both sections of road, concluded that two equal but opposite vectors were acting along the same plane, separated by a distance d... Perhaps I should have anticipated this, but it took me a "couple" of moments to figure it out! (I like to test my brain every now and then to make sure it's still functioning!). Apologies for the geekery.
Ant was again, in his element, enjoying the spectacular event of nature. I watched with analytical anticipation as it grew in size, secretly hoping it wouldn't get big enough to start lifting cows (and gringos on bikes) but never quite (until now) voicing me fears, as I'd been scared enough of the elements yesterday!
So on we (now painfully slowly) trudged into a strong blustery cross wind, that almost halved our speed. Up and down hills, fighting the wind, we soon decided the only way to combat this was to take it easy and chat to pass the time, rather than grind the pedals hard with little progress.
Soon enough we reached the border.
Now in my mind there would be military, police, guns, fighting, scary figures (probably all the action figure baddies too), lined up opposing us as we fearfully edged closer and closer to our goal (why this image... Who knows! Welcome to my crazy brain!).
In reality it was an exciting and very pleasant experience. On the Peruvian side there were many market stalls (just in case you hadn't quite got all the hats, llama impersonating teddy bears, and gigantic popcorn you needed), money exchangers (who offered Ant a better than market rate... Apparently he knows about these things!), and very happy smiley officials at the immigration office on both sides, intrigued about our travels and keen to wish us well.
Ant now doing his "we're in our second country and its super cool" song and dance (quite a spectacular performance when atop a loaded bike), we continued into Bolivia slightly apprehensive about encountering road blocks. Thankfully for now at least, they had all been dismantled, leaving only the odd mound of Earth, tree stumps, sometimes whole trees, and glass to navigate our way through.
Soon enough we'd made it to the glorious town of Copacabana. Yes it's very touristy, yes very hippie, yes it has a beach with peddalos, yes it has western food... But hey... A bit of luxury never hurt anyone!
Ant found a brilliant hotel "La Cupula" which although not cheap at 44 USD per night, is well worth every penny. A lovely restaurant and beautiful view over the lake.
So here we are for a rest day tomorrow (don't expect a post, I imagine we will be mostly eating, drinking beer, reading, sun bathing and lying down... That's what you're supposed to do on holiday right?!), then we will probably venture for a day trip to the Isla del Sol on Tuesday, before departing for La Paz on Wednesday (hopefully, road blocks permitting, will be there by Thursday night, and we get to take a boat!!).
So now we shall rest our tired legs and go find pasta. Hugs to all xxx
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