Heading to Bolivia and the nomad life
I have been living the nomad life for 20 months now and I have learned several lessons. My best lesson, possibly, was on my way to Bolivia. Actually, I am not sure that it qualifies a lesson but more of a realization that I wanted to share. I belong to a few different travel and nomad groups. Once you start travelling, you realize there are more weird nomad people out in the wild than you might think. Anyways, I have sometimes been asked for advice or tips on living as a nomad but I rarely offer any. Because honestly I am a terrible nomad. This is my both my best lesson and wonderful realization. As a nomad, I am ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!
On my way to Bolivia (and continuously while I was there) it became clear to me that I am quite inefficient at and often unprepared for my nomad life. Having said that, as terrible as I am is also as grateful as I am. I am always learning and growing. My ‘terribleness’ has led to many funny incidents and amazing experiences where I had the chance to let wonderful people help me. Also, every single time that something happens that is difficult or unplanned, I learn to adapt and adjust and be grateful. And somewhere along the way, I have learned to not only be grateful for the challenges but to actively, and IN THE MOMENT, lean into them.
However, sometimes the ‘challenges’ are actually just a reflection of my wild incompetence. The challenge is often my complete and total terribleness at ‘nomading.’ This was the case on January 31st as I traveled from Peru into Bolivia. I had taken the overnight bus from Peru to Copacabana in Bolivia. I had read, before going to Peru, that you were allowed 3 months on a tourist visa. Then upon arriving in Cusco, I asked the sweet man stamping my passport, “I have 3 months, yes?” to which he said “si.” And that was my extent of my research on the length of a tourist visa in Peru.
So I boarded the overnight bus in Cusco on January 30th and had an excellent sleep truthfully. I have become very good at sleeping in random places since becoming a nomad. (I feel I should notice the nomad things I excel at and sleeping in weird places is something I am really, really good at.) We stopped in Puno before crossing the border and I had a great and cheap breakfast there, based on a beautiful dog actually. Another thing I excel at, is meeting random dogs and their humans. This dog’s human owned a tiny little cafe and she invited me in even though they were not open yet. Then I had the best breakfast sandwich at her place for only 5 soles. After a short walk along the boardwalk, it was back to the bus for the last leg of my journey out of Peru.
The overnight buses stop at this little border crossing along the edge of Lake Titicaca. (Lake Titicaca has both a Peru and Bolivia side.) Passengers have to get off with all of their bags and line up to get into this little border patrol building. It is quite understaffed and the line up is very long. After a long wait, it was my turn. I am always a little nervous at border crossings. My nerves are due both to some bad luck and to some bad ‘nomading’… more stories to tell there.
Anyways, after a long wait, it was my turn. I handed over my passport and waited and waited. And then I waited some more. After 20 minutes of him looking at my passport, looking at his computer, talking to the next agent, he looked at me and said “no.” Then he said a whole lot more that I was too freaked out to understand. Thankfully, Renzo, the bus guide was there to translate.
It turns out the the tourist visa is for exactly 90 days, not 3 months. I arrived on October 31st, December also has 31 days and it was the 31st of January. So I had overstayed my visa by 2 days… 2 days!! The Peruvian tourist visa is 90 days, which is slightly different from 3 months (yes, I have a university degree and sometimes I am quite wise… and sometimes I am decidedly not). Anyways, 2 extra days means I had to pay 10 soles to exit. So any travelling friends out there, please be smarter than me and check the exact days allowed on any tourist visa. The 10 soles I had to pay is not that big of a deal if I could have just paid it right then and there. But it was not as simple as you might imagine.
One has to pay the fine at a bank, in a town, not at the border. One must also obtain 2 photocopied receipts of payment, plus 2 more photocopies of one’s passport. (I have no idea why and no one seems to know, not even the border agent.) So this payment process turned into a bit of an adventure. I had to take a taxi back to a town 10 mins away which ironically cost 20 soles more than the actual fine.
At the bank, I had to wait in line for over 20 minutes as the man in front of me had a large bag of unrolled coins that he was depositing. Not joking – a shopping bag full of coins. After I gave up on my loud and annoying sighing thing, trying to get both him and the teller to hurry up, I started to laugh. It was comical how slow the transaction was taking. Once I just accepted that the bus was likely going to leave without me, it became ridiculously funny. That was when I decided to take a video. And that was when I found out that you are not allowed to record a video in a bank. If you do try to record a video, the scary security guy with a gun will take your phone away. Another random and unexpected lessons I feel I should share 😉
I was finally able to pay my fine. Hallelujah! However, they would not give me copies (I think I made them mad with my sighing and attempted video recording). So then I had to find a copy place…. which was really ironic. In Cusco, I was always amused at all of the copy ‘jaladores’ and now here I was in some tiny random town and I could not find a copy place. I finally found one, with the help of the taxi driver. Then I was literally and crazily running down little side streets with the taxi trailing behind me, both pointing me where to go and also laughing. I am thinking he might still be laughing at me. Finally, I found a copy shop and was able to get copies of everything – 2 more soles.
Then a crazy, speedy taxi ride back to the border where I found out that sadly, my bus left without me but happily, Renzo, the sweet helpful guide waited for me. And so I presented all the necessary copies and finally got my passport stamped.
And that is how I ended up walking across the Peru-Bolivia border with Renzo. This is also when I realized that I am a really terrible nomad. I will enter a country or visit a city and know the 3 best museums to vist and which days they are free. I will have 2 hikes planned. There will be 5 coffee shops, 2 restaurants and a cat cafe on my ‘must visit’ list. But I may or may not have researched the exact length of a tourist visa (Peru) or the significant altitude changes (Colombia) or time zone differences (Bolivia).
But I have a silly belief that maybe my terrible nomad skills might be somehow weirdly connected to my curiosity and wonderful luck meeting amazing people and herds of llamas and sheep. So I am not trying to ‘fix’ myself just yet. I will continue to bumble and fumble around haphazardly. I also had a lovely conversation with Renzo on the taxi ride from the border to Copacabana where I learned about his time serving on a cruise ship and his sweet father who is a potato farmer. Sometimes challenging situations lead to beautiful conversations and sweet memories of even sweeter people.
And overall, my very chaotic and challenging day was totally worth it. Copacabana was a total delight. My hotel upgraded my room and I had a hammock in my ‘attic.’ Plus there were hotel alpacas. (Highly recommend this hotel, if you feel like a bit of a splurge and you don’t mind a lot of stairs. Link below.) There was also an incredible annual celebration happening in Copacabana that I was not aware of. I was able to see singers, dancers and the most wonderful parade. (Please check out my FB post on this celebration.) Another random tidbit of information is that after Copacabana, on the way to la Paz, you have to take a ferry and they have separate ferries for vehicles and cars. It was wonderful and due to my terrible research, a complete and excellent surprise.
That is the thing about being a terrible nomad… Sometimes you are surprised in challenging ways that make for a good lesson. And sometimes, you are simply delighted.
I say this full of love – I love hearing about your mistakes. It makes me feel way less guilty about my own
First, happy to help 😉 and also mistakes are opportunities to learn so no sense feeling guilty. Plus really good mistakes make really good stories.