Moving Toward Christmas in Bolivia

Two days before Christmas I was awake at 7am on the Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, staring out at the beautiful scenery of the lake and the snow capped mountains in the distance. It was a tranquil morning. And I felt so far removed from any upcoming holidays.

My travel buddy woke up a short time later and we both took in the morning views. The views included several locals hiking down the path past our hotel with crates of empty beer bottles on their backs. We heard the ceremony go well into the night. Evidence of the night´s fun stumbled past us as a few older drunk men were helped down the path.

The woman managing the hotel made us a small breakfast which we gobbled up. After packing our things, we walked downhill to the port to wait for our boat back to the mainland. We were an hour early and used the time to read and nap some more.

Our boat back was near empty this time as we continued to enjoy the peace and quiet. Back in Copacabana we found a restaurant and ordered more fried trout (seemingly the only thing to eat on Titicaca) and a grande beer for lunch. Our bus was leaving around 2pm so we had some time before having to pick up my bag and laundry and riding towards our next destination of La Paz. We chatted about the odd asian-latin-fusion sounding music playing over the speakers, and what we were each going to miss most about the holidays at home.

Just before boarding our bus, I called my coworker´s childhood friend in La Paz to make sure he and his wife would still be meeting us at the bus station. They had generously offered to do this and host us at the apartment that night. My travel buddy was flying to Buenos Aires the next morning and I would be meeting my coworker at the airport and then flying on to meet his family in Southern Bolivia. They were planning on meeting us when we arrived. I thanked them and hopped on board our bus.

The bus ride was just a few hours. We passed a few interesting landscapes but overall, it was mostly just farms, small run-down villages, and distant mountains. When we approached La Paz the scenery was suddenly in a frenzy. Small buses packed full of people, pedestrians filling the empty spaces in the streets where cars didn´t, roaming malnurished dogs every where. As we rode down the winding express way towards the terminal we could see all of La Paz proper laid snuggly between the mountains. La Paz is the highest capitol in the world and I was not looking forward to continuing the high-altitude problems with breathing.

When we arrived at the terminal we went looking for our hosts. After 30 minutes of not being able to find them, I gave them a call. Apparently we had arrived at a different location from where the bus operator told me and I had in turn told our hosts. 20 minutes later our hosts found us and we drove back to their apt; a very comfortable apartment not far from where my coworker grew up. I took a much needed shower and unpacked a bit. We all relaxed with a drink and chatted. Mauricio and his wife Ide met each other in college in Santiago, Chile, and now worked in fields way over my head here in La Paz. Both hoped to return to Santiago to work soon. Ide was from Belize, meaning she spoke English, and acted as my interpretor. Though Mauricio seemed to speak enough English to understand what I was saying.

To thank them for picking us up and giving us a place to crash for the night, I offered to buy them both dinner if they chose the restaurant. They picked a nice place in a hotel not far from the apartment. We all ate heartidly and continued to chat about college, Bolivia, and my coworker. They were leaving the next day to drive 8 hours to meet Mauricio´s family for the holidays after dropping us at the airport. So we headed back to the apt after dinner and a short stop at the grocery. My travel buddy and I got the spare room - she had the bed, I had several layers of blankets on the floor to sleep on (one of the most comfortable night´s sleep I had had in days).

The next morning we all woke at 5:30am. Ide had prepared a table full of breakfast options for us. After dressing and packing, we chowed down on toast, ham & cheese, Fruit Loops, coffee and tea. And then we raced to the airport in a SUV packed full of luggage and presents. Ide made sure my travel buddy caught her flight. We said our goodbyes (the last appearance of Regina in my travels) and Mauricio, Ide and I went off to wait for my coworker to arrive. When he finally did, the start of my Bolivian holidays would be underway.