Hi all! I'm in La Paz right now, en route to Lake Titicaca, and I intend to cross into Peru in a few days. However, I'm getting conflicting information here about the status of the border near Copacabana. Many say the crossing's been barricaded for weeks now, and still is, while others say it's open and I can possibly squeeze through without getting set upon by an angry, stick-wielding mob.

Does anybody have any current and reliable information about that border crossing? And if it is indeed shut completely, what are my other options for getting from Bolivia to Peru?

Cheers,
JVM

JVM,

You can go directly around the west side of the lake. It is really the most direct route to Puno. Not as picture-esq (sp?), but hey! It is the way the import/export people go. Look up people's recent description of Desaguadero and you will get up-to-date info.

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'We build the bike (in Peru) for your Epic Ride of South America.'

Try the helpful girls at the tourist office in Puno....

iperupuno@promperu.gob.pe




Otherwise head to Tacna in SW Peru, enter Chile, and head to Bolivia via Arica. I did this a month or so ago. The Lauca National Park is spectacular in North east Chile.

I crossed that border two days ago.

It's true. The road has been blocked on the Peruvian side for weeks and there's an angry mob ready to stone you to death if you dare crossing.

The roadblocks continue all the way to Puno. Probably the most blocked city in the country as of today. Six deaths were reported yesterday as the mob tried to take over the airport as well.

Immigration offices are open on both sides of the border. But you may be able to get your exit stamp at La Paz.

The alternative is to go along the northern shore of lake Titicaca along Huarina, Carabuco and Puerto Acosta, cross the border and continue to Moho, Juliaca and Puno. Be prepared for the mobs to attack you in the last two.

Border formalities must be handled elsewhere as there's no immigration officials, nor police, at either side, this border crossing is mostly used by smugglers and it's truly no man's land. The roads on this part are largely unpaved and can be difficult at times (but generally ok) on the Bolivian side but its pretty hardcore on the Peruvian side, until you reach pavement again near Moho.

There are also boats going from Copacabana to Puno. Due to the design of the boats and the fact there's no port there (smaller boats take you from the shore to the big boat) it looks unlikely they'll ship a motorbike, but perhaps you can convince them. The boats leave early in the morning and were charging 200 - 300 Bolivianos for the trip per passenger as of a couple of days ago. Tickets sell out fast. Speedboats are sometimes available, otherwise is a good 10 hours on the boat to Puno.

Word on the street is the roadblocks will continue until the new president takes office, which is about a month from now.

Roads out of Puno are blocked as well, but it was still possible to make it to Arequipa via Moquegua. Things get relatively normal from there.

Best route into Peru right now is through Chile. It's a huge detour, but it's probably your best bet.

Good luck!

JVM,

What I am going to suggest is ONLY if you are riding something on-off road. DO NOT attempt this on a 2-wheel truck!

I've ridden around the eastern side of Lake Titicaca (La Paz to Puno), and no, there won't be mobs because there is relatively no traffic to disrupt. The trouble is that there is no immigration either! Before you leave La Paz, get your immigration stamp out of Bolivia....

There is a customs office as you enter Puerto Acosta where you can leave your Bolivian Temp Import paper. Make sure you have a copy of it and make them stamp it so you have some proof that you passed that way and were not trying to sneak into Peru.

There is nothing on the Peruvian side. We did not even find a police shack! Once you get to the other side you will have to go around to Puno to get stamped into the country and do aduana.

Leave early as the road is longer than it seems on the map. First paved, then gravel, then thick Bull dust with small rocks hidden in it. The wind will be strong out of the northeast for the first part. The ride is beautiful! You will alternate beside the lake, then inland, then back to the lake. Set yourself some GPS points before you leave (by researching the road/path on Google Earth), but it is pretty straight forward.

The rough (but beautiful part) is Puerto Acosta (you leave down an alley out of the main square) to the border. We did it at nightfall with only 250s. It seems like the Puerto Acosta to Mojo road never ends, but it is about 3 hours. There is an incredible 5 story hotel on the plaza of Moho, so out of place in that little andean town, but it's surprisingly modern and cheap! Shoot for there the first day or you will end up riding in the dark!

Do not relaz the next day when you hit the pavement at Hancaina. There are HUGE holes in the pavement and the buses and trucks will swerve right into your lane to avoid them! It is killer! The section is not long, but I would call it the most dangerous of our 10,000 km ride!

Good Luck. Any questions, drop me a line. I check HUBB at least twice a day.

Toby

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Wow, thanks everybody for your advice. I really like this here HUBB. So helpful!

So, to whittle it down:

1. Crossing into Desaguadero will have no appreciable advantage over crossing at Copacabana, because both roads lead to the heavily-roadblocked road to Puno, where stick- and stone-wielding mobs lie in wait. I don't suppose it helps that I'm a Canuck and the proposed mine they're protesting is, in fact, Canadian. Anyway, this isn't an option. I can just rule this one out.

2. The guaranteed option is to just turn around, go halfway back to Oruro, and then head to Chile via Curahuara. I really don't like this option because it involves backtracking, and also going to Chile, which I hear might set me back something like $150 for the temporary import fee for my bike? I heard something about that, anyway.

3. I may be able to get my bike onto a boat to Puno at Copacabana. Emphasis on *may*. This would involve loading the bike onto a smaller boat, which would then deliver the bike to a big boat, and would probably require some sort of winch to get on board. I'm riding a Vespa PX200, which weighs about 140kg with my topbox installed. Anyway, would the relatively small size of the bike might improve my chances with the boat option? And to what extent would money talk here? But more to the point, how hairy would it be getting *out* of Puno north towards Juliaca? Don't the stone-throwing mobs have to sleep sometime? Maybe I could slip out of town at the crack of dawn or something.

4. Option 3, as Toby and Tenebra and, last night over s, a Frenchman chef / biker here in La Paz explained, is to attempt the north side of Titicaca. My Frenchman pal here says that the road's pretty terrible, but that if my Vespa managed to navigate the ripio from Tupiza to Uyuni to Potosi, I should be able to manage this. Toby / Tenebra-- would that road compare? And just how deep are the sandy sections? Again, I'm on an old two-stroke Vespa here. It's proven surprisingly tough, this little bike, but the wheels can't handle much more than 4-5 inches of sand. Also, if I do attempt this ,the folks in Pto. Acosta will stamp out my carnet, correct? (For some reason they wouldn't issue me a temporary import down at Villazon, and insisted on using my expired carnet. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.)

5. I'm a bit confused here about border formalities. Whichever option I go for, should I be trying to get my exit stamp here in La Paz? Is that the most guaranteed option?

6. And just a question about these mobs. My French friend here said he was surrounded by them when he crossed on his bike at Copacabana a few weeks ago, and that much raised palms and even-voiced pleading that he was just a tourist was enough to get them to let him be. I'm not sure if I'd be as convincing. Nor does that make any sense -- if the whole point of what these disgruntled back-to-the-earth types are doing is to make a stink, then it makes even more sense to hassle tourists, no?

Questions, questions. So complicated!

Thanks in advance for anything else you folks might have to add to my points/questions here.

Cheers,
JVM

ADDENDUM: Well, now that there are bodies, the news is all over this like a dirty shirt. And just yesterday it was announced that the government is bending to mob rule and is cancelling the silver mine contract.

Peru to end Bear Creek silver mine project - MarketWatch

...which sent Bear Creek Mining's share price down 17% in afternoon trading:

Stock Market Quotes | Stock Market Quotes and Symbols

Sucks to be a Bear Creek shareholder, but maybe this is good for a guy on a Vespa who wants to get from Bolivia to Peru? Maybe?

JVM

Hi guys,

we planned for next week to go from Cusco via Puno to Arequipa.
Ivan, the president of the MotoViajeros Lima just gave us the advice to avoid the Puno area, which fits to what I read here.

Plan B is to leave the 370 south of Cusco at Yanaoca and use a gravel road going more or less straight south (Es Descanso, Hecotr Tejeda, Ocoruro...), hitting the 280 at Imata (north east of Arequipa).
Any roadblocks on that route?
How about the road condition?
Is there a lot of heavy traffic these days on that road, because many use it to avoid the trouble zone?

cheers

Panny

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The situation is developing very fast so any advice you can get from the internet will become outdated by the time you get to the border.

TV news report Juliaca is back to normal and the roadblocks continue around Puno.

The best and most up to date source of information is bus and truck drivers. If I were you I would be hanging at the bus station asking if buses are leaving to Puno or not. They also have first hand knowledge about what routes are blocked and what detours to take.

I've never heard of a $150 fee to temporary import a vehicle into Chile.

The mobs sleep, but they leave boulders, logs, nails and burning tyres behind.

Where to get your exit stamp depends on what route you pick. If the answer is the northern shore of the lake then yes, stamp your passport in La Paz. I met two people in Puno who never stamped their passports out of Bolivia and the Peruvian officials stamped them in anyway with the friendly advice they shouldn't return to Bolivia otherwise they'll be fined by the Bolivians (fine is 300 Bolivianos IIRC).

If you go to Copacabana you can stamp out of Bolivia, walk 100m to the other border control and stamp your entry into Peru. Then go back to Bolivia and cross somewhere else. There are no checks anywhere. This is what people travelling by boat do.

I have every reason to believe the same is possible in Desaguadero but I wasn't there so this is just an educated guess.

Boats have Peruvian flags so you have to take them at the Peruvian side of the border, which is 8km away from Copacabana. There may be Bolivian boats as well... or not.

BTW, there's a scam going on with the immigration in Puno: Buses arrive to Puno after the immigration office has closed so you can't get your entry stamp... unless you pay a 20 Soles fee. If you get to Puno after 6pm it's better to wait until next day and get if for free.

Regarding road conditions along the northern shore of the Titicaca lake: There's not much loose sand but a lot of nasty rocks. You also go to 4500+ meters of altitude along this route. The road may be too bad for a Vespa. Then again I've never ridden one so what do I know.

Finally another option would be to talk with the truckers who do this route and find one who has some space on the back and wants to make some extra money. That would save you some angst and would probably be cheaper than convincing the captain of a boat to do the same.

And you don't want to go to Juliaca after Puno, that will lead you nowhere. The road Puno - Cuzco is blocked. You have to go West and South for a chance to get away of the problematic zone.

Hope that helps.

Hey Tenebra, thanks for the information. Unfortunately, your last point there -- about the Juliaca--Cusco road being blocked -- kind of renders this whole discussion moot. I was operating under the impression that if I just got to Juliaca, I could then get on the road to Cusco and go see Machu Picchu and all those other Inca sites in the neighbourhood. That was my overarching goal, anyway.

So, you're 100% sure the road is blocked heading north out of Juliaca?

I sure hope these Aymara Indians see this for what it is -- a total victory for their cause -- and pack up and go home. Say what you will about international mining operations, but you gotta feel for the people whose livelihoods depend on tourism around Titicaca.

No, there is not a $150 dollar import fee for the bike, not even for Americans as far as I am aware (and if there is have a word with your government to stop charging fees to South Americans and then they will not reciprocate :-) )

The pass to Chile by Arica is a good road, but if you fuel up at the border they will double the price of fuel for being a foreigner (but 2 x bugger all is still bugger all :-) ).

You can then enter Chile and come back up to Puno via Arequipa if you want.

Its only a short detour after all.

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I'm right now in Cuzco. There are roads open. Not the main, paved routes, but there are (long) detours available passing through Espinar and Sicuani. Ask at the bus station if buses are leaving for Cuzco and which route they are taking. Even better ask the driver of the bus when he's about to leave what route to follow. They know the country inside out and have the most up to date information regarding roadblocks.

No. Things change all the time. The information I have is the main Puno - Cuzco road has been blocked for weeks but that an alternative route, involving a detour towards Arequipa has been open most of the time.

Notice you need to reach Puno to get your stamp first, unless you manage to do it at other border crossing (i.e. Copacabana)

@Bruce -- thanks for the tip. I´m Canadian, which isn´t really any handier than having an American passport, with the possible exception of going to Bolivia, which really puts the screws to my poor Yank cousins. Anyhow, I can´t remember exactly what the deal was with Chile -- what I heard about it, anyway. Some Argentine motorcyclist said that there was a steep temporary-import fee, if memory serves. But hey, you´ve been through there recently.

@Tenebra -- check it out:
Noticias de Prensa Latina - Terminan protestas y se normaliza tránsito Bolivia-Perú

So, it looks like I might be able to head over there in a day or two! However that could be wishful thinking. Maybe it takes some time for all the hubbub to simmer down. (And are the roadblocks on the way up to Cusco even related to this silver mine protest?) Please let me know if you hear anything current up in Cusco. I plan on making my way to Copacabana, and then crossing into Peru, in two days, unless somebody tells me otherwise.

JVM

Hey Tenebra -- if you're there, have you heard anything from up Cusco-way?

Just curious!

JVM

I know nothing I've not said before. When I came here, a few days ago, the direct route had been blocked for weeks but it was definitely possible to travel between Puno and Cuzco taking a detour towards Arequipa then heading North through Espinar and Sicuani.

With the new developments this may no longer be necessary but I don't have any first hand knowledge of this. News report the blockades are ending.