We left Cusco in the am on a plane, headed for Juliaca. When we arrived, our intentions were to take a mini bus into Puno for a total of 9 soles for both of us, according to the Lonely Planet guide. Unfortunately, the b@&%@&*s were asking 15 soles per person! No matter how hard I tried to haggle, they would not budge. I asked the taxi how much, and was gonna charge 100 soles! We were pretty much s*&$ out of luck, because the airport was several kilometres outside of town, so we reluctantly jumped on the bus and headed to Puno. We found another bus that took us to a town a couple of kilometers before the border to Bolivia. We exchanged money and took a collectivo the rest of the way. They dropped us off just before the border, because you have to walk across.
Now, Lonely Planet guide stressed that under no circumstances do we go to the police station on the Peruvian side, when going through imigration, no matter how persistent they are. There have been incidences in the past, where the police had confiscated tourists money, claiming it was 'counterfiet'. So we did just that. This older man kept trying to herd us to the police station and we aggresively refused, but imigration refused to stamp our passports untill we did. These 2 women crossed over from the Bolivian side and translated to us what the men were trying to tell us. They said that the police were 'customs' for the border and needed to stamp our customs cards that you recieve when you first enter the country. Reluctantly, we went over to the police station, the officer looked at our passports, stamped our cards, smiled, thanked us and sent us on our way! Unbelievable! What is really odd is that Bolivia did not have police acting as customs. I wonder if because we raised enough fuss they didn't bother us? I wish I knew. What I can tell you though, is that I strongly suggest you pay the extra $$$$ (and its really not that much more) and take a tourist bus across. That way you will not be singled out and the bus will pick you up on the other side of the border.
Once we crossed, we took a mini bus into the town of Copacabana, Bolivia. We found a place to stay relatively close to the beach and on the main drag. It was a small town, pretty around the beach, but run down in the heart of town. In my eyes, the locals did not seem very friendly. On the main drag, it was invaded by these 'nouveaux' hippies, selling jewellery and such, on the sides of the road. It felt overun by foreigners and felt like the local population was pushed out of that particular area.
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