I crossed two days ago from Puno to Copacabna and then came back today. After passing customs and imagration, the guy with the border police asked for a "donation" for some saint statue he has mounted on the wall behind his desk. I had emptied my wallet and stashed my cash in various pockets in progressively larger ammounts, as is my custom at border crossings. He was quite forceful, but when I showed him my empty wallet he relented. He seems to want about $20 bol ($3).

On the way back, I didn´t feel like I could reapeat my pathetic "no cash" story so I gave him 6 bol in change which he was very displeased with, so I coughed up another 10 bol that I had stashed.

Another nugget, they are now charging gringos double (7.5 bol/L vs 3.75 bol/L) for gas in Copacabna. They said it was a new law for all the frontera. I got around it by having a guy at my hotel run out and fill up my gas jugs without my bike. I don´t know if all border towns will be this way or only Copacana.

And finally, aduanas closes the gate for Bolivia between 1:00 - 2:00 bol time for lunch. They handled my paper work and then made me wait an hour to cross.

As for Peru, the apparently no longer use the 6 inch crappy sticker that must go on your bike and instead gave another sunat paper which is all you need. Last year they wanted to a copy of my title & insurance, this year they wanted to see my drivers license. I used my international drivers license as both each time.

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo