Route: Three day tour from San Pedro, Chile - Uyuni - La Paz - Copacabana - Cusco, Peru

Total Number of Days: 9
**See below for breakdown

Budget:

Overall Average: $23/day

Interesting Expedentures

• Three-day tour through Bolivian Salt Flats and Lagunas: $80
• Four-hour Tour around La Paz and to see the Valley of the Moon: $6
• Average spent on Hotels: $5.90
• Total spent on Alcohol: $9.86

Food and Drink: All the guidebooks say that Bolivian food leaves something to be desired but we were able to find tasty treats everywhere we went. People had also frightened us about La Paz, but we found it to be (reasonably) safe and filled with New York-style cafes.

Must Eats:

• Pique a lo Macho: This is supposedly a traditional Bolivian dish that comes with French Fries (!) covered with sausage, beef and other meats and spicy sauce
• Lake Titicaca Trout: The largest trout in the world, this fish is enough for two. Its amazingly fresh when you have it at Copacabana, and its soft and buttery.
• Saltenas: A Bolivian take on the empanada, its more juicy and often more meaty. A great snack on the run.
• Pilsener La Paz Huari beer: We got this mystery beer at Lake Titicaca. The waiter insisted it was Pacena, but the label said something about a special blend. It was one of our top 5 beers on the trip.

Highlights:

• Three Day Tour from San Pedro, Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia: We heard that if you were within 500 miles of Uyuni, you should do this trip through the Salt Flats, lava fields, tree forests and some of the most untouched land we’ve ever seen. We think if you are within 1000 miles you should go see it. It’s amazing and cheap. The guidebooks say not to expect much, but we were blown away.
• Copacabana, Lake Titicaca: This is the highest naviagatable lake in the world. Its nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, so while it’s cool, the sun is also incredibly bright and beams off of the lake. (Wear sunscreen.) The town of Copacabana is cute, filled with more tempting restaurants than we had time to visit.
• La Paz: We had been warned that when we left Chile for Bolivia that we would be descending into a desolate place with no resources for gringo backpackers. We found the opposite to be true. While you need to keep your normal wits about you, La Paz was as safe as most big cities we’ve been to. It also had more Lonely Planet guides and English-Language book exchanges than we had seen so far in South America.

Best Deal: Hotel La Cupula, Copacabana: This hotel could easily be a three or four-star resort. It overlooks Lake Titicaca, with plenty of hammocks to relax in and an amazing restaurant where you can eat the salads without worry. The cheapest room is off of the living room for $8/night and is a step up from most budget hotels. The most expensive room, the $32/night honeymoon suite, has its own private indoor glassed-in patio with a private hammock. Definitely worth the “splurge.”

Calendar of Events:
May
24,25 - Bolivia Tour Days 1-2
26 - Bolivia Tour Day 3, overnight to…
27,28 - La Paz
29 - Bus to Copacabana
30,31 - Copacabana

June
1 - Overnight to Cusco, Peru (via Puno)