paz

cuzco (1)

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teresa (9)

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copacabana

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puno

copacabana (1)

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cuzco

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After a few hours on the road we arrive at Copacabana, a kind of sea resort on the shores of lake Titicaca. Copacabana fills with tourist during the festival of the local virgin. The hotel supply is therefore abundant and since it is now off-peak season we can find a cheap one. The manager enquires about the Project.

The following day (we are tourists!) we take the boat to visit an island on the lak where there are ruins of the Inca period. The day is pleasant and the view on the lake Titicaca is incredible. At the end of the day we try to go to Peru. We quickly do the paperwork on the Bolivian side and have the opportunity to chat with one of the custom officers.

On the Peruvian side, things are equally quick apart for the car… The officer cannot find in my papers the equivalent of the green card and denies us access so I try another time with a local way of doing things (I politely ask if things can be sorted with a note) but he refuses laughing out loud. I have to get the missing paper. We go back to Copacabana to spend the night and contact Mireya in Santiago de Chile. She acts another time outstandingly by faxing the missing paper just the following morning. We try again to cross the border but my offer of the previous day has caught the attention of the officer who asks me to "voluntarily collaborate"; which I kindly do by offering the H2 Project shirt and a small note.

We are in Peru at last! A few hors later we arrive in Puno where we spend the night. The following day we go directly to Cuzco.

In Cuzco we find the "hospedaje del Porton"  run by Felix, 76 year old, still fit, direct witness of Charles de Gaulle's visit to Machu Picchu nearly half a century before… Felix is very nice and seems trustful so I decide to have the hydrogen toys I just bought from Singapore to be shipped to his address; I will come back in 2 weeks to collect them.

Cuzco is splendid but full of tourists so we decide to follow the advice from 2 French men met in Puno: to go and visit Machu Picchu but following the road to Santa Teresa.

After the visit of Otalambayo and a difficult road further, we reach Santa Teresa...