Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Tag: Copacabana

From Cusco, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia – As Overlanders

Peru

Cusco

After my cousin and her husband left Cusco on December 6th, Mark and I finished some work assignments and camper projects (and I created a 2024 calendar for my family), and socialized with our Canadian friends Sheri and Jeff. Just as we were ready to leave town, we learned our American motorcycle friends Katherine and Brandon would arrive the following day!

(As always, click on or hover over photos to read their captions.)

We didn’t want to miss that, of course, and decided to camp on the edge of Cusco for a couple of nights to spend time with them – and work. We have met up with Katherine and Brandon in “every” country of South America so far: Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. (And, most recently, Bolivia.) After seeing them several times in Baja, Mexico and Idaho and Oregon in the US.

Sheri and Jeff – who we were supposed to meet down the road – had finished their Sacred Valley explorations by then and joined us as well. We had fun times together, especially when Jeff revealed one of his T-shirts… I mentioned in a previous post that our friends had a few surprises for us. 😊

Tinajani Canyon

Us, truck camper overlanders, moved on and drove for two long days. Our first stop – after filling up with propane at the other end of Cusco – was Tinajani Canyon, where we had camped and walked before.

It was quiet at night, but a tad chilly at 13,000ft (around 4,000m). We paid the cheese factory a visit, but they were out of Gouda. This is where the exhaustion and sickness caught up with me, leading to an extra night of staying put, for me to rest. The symptoms reminded me of the flu and I was “out” for five days.

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Peru, Take Two – Our Border Run to Bolivia

Many months ago, back in Ecuador, I invited my cousin and her husband to join us in the Cusco area of Peru when it would be time for their “winter vacation” in November/December 2023. They had visited us many times before, mostly when sailing on our then 35ft catamaran Irie. The idea of having them travel with us on the Baja peninsula in Mexico two years prior fell through and, last winter, when we had just arrived in Colombia, a visit had seemed too soon.

Plans were set in motion, with the only potential caveat our allotted time in Peru upon entering the country. When we crossed that border between Ecuador and Peru the end of July, Mark and I asked, pleaded, and begged for a six-month entry stamp at Peruvian immigration, something we knew friends had been able to obtain, which was one of the reasons we had picked this particular crossing. Our request was denied.

We received 90 days in the country with a “visa” expiration date of October 27th. Not enough time to cover my family’s visit. Yet, we did not despair. Despite the extension system in Peru having just been scrapped in early 2023 due to all the indigenous protests, we knew of ways to get more time in the country and gave my cousin the green light for a trip to Peru.

Fast forward to the end of October, when our time in the country was running out and my family had their holiday in the Cusco area sealed: from November 20th to December 6th. We had heard and read and learned that it was possible to drive to the small border of Kasani in Peru, park the car, check out at immigration, walk across the border into Copacabana, Bolivia, check in and out of the country there, and return to Peru to receive another 60-day entry stamp. With that stamp, you could either apply for a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) extension for the vehicle online or at the border. So, that was the plan…

On October 25th, with a couple of days to spare (experience had taught us that officials in South America don’t like to deal with things too far ahead of time and many extensions and permits are issued last minute), Mark and I set our plan in motion. Not only was a positive outcome of this border run necessary to spend time with my family and friends who would return from Canada to Cusco during this period, we also had skipped Machu Picchu, Arequipa, and Colca Canyon – highlights in Peru – counting on being able to see them during our extra time…

Driving east along Lake Titicaca

Our water and fuel tanks were topped up, our fridge was relatively empty, and our Peruvian soles had been spent (an issue when trying to fill up in gas stations around Puno that didn’t accept credit cards), just in case we wouldn’t be allowed back into the country anymore. It was important to us that neither our camper, nor our dog left Peru to not make things more complicated.

Looking towards Bolivia from the parked camper

So, we parked Thirsty Bella in a parking lot on the Peruvian side of the border around 9am and walked to immigration to inquire about our options. The first officer I talked to made my heart sink: “You are only allowed to stay 90 days out of every 180 days. You will have to leave the country for three months if you want to come back.”

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