Vehicles can't enter the street where this hotel is located so the taxi driver had to drop me someplace else. I wished he walked me up to the door of the hotel because I had a really hard time to find it. I kept walking up and down Evaristo Valle and the other streets nearby but still couldn't see any sign of the hotel. With my limited Spanish, I asked help from a number of locals but most of them didn't know where it was or pointed me to the wrong direction. I swear it took me at least 30 minutes to finally find it. And when I got there, the old man at the front desk told me there was no vacant room. I insisted that I have a reservation and when he still didn't believe me, I showed him the e-mail from their address. Apparently, it wasn't him that I was exchanging e-mails with because he didn't speak English and not one of the staff spoke any English.
My room was very small, probably the smallest I had in my entire trip. The small window opens to the hallway so it somehow felt like I was a prisoner. The shower took a long time to get hot but at least I had hot water. For 85Bs, I had a cable tv and a very light breakfast. My room was on the fourth floor and of course, there was no elevator. I was breathless every time I went up my room. All guests were, anyway. I just hated the acoustics of the building. In the afternoon, I could hear the clacking of typewriter keys from the ground floor. Yes, they're still using a typewriter.
I had a love-hate relationship with the old men at the front desk. There were times when it felt like they didn't want me there. But there were also times when they sounded happy while talking to me. But even with that kind of relationship, I kept coming back to that hotel and stayed for 10 nights. It was a too long time that the senora serving breakfast had stopped asking me what I wanted to drink and just brought me jugo every morning.
And oh, when a friend came to my hotel, he didn't have any problems finding it. What's wrong with me?
La Torre Hotel - Tupiza
I only chose La Torre because I was taking the Salt Flats tour with them. It was near the bus station so I just walked when I got there. I asked for a single room and I was given one with two double beds. Now that's a lot of space I could trash. The place was bright and the atmosphere was good (not that noisy, too) but my windows only open to the corridor. Breakfast was good. Or maybe I had a good time eating because I finally met the three people I would be in the tour with and I felt comfortable with them.
Pachamama Hostel - Sucre
Now, this one I didn't choose. I was in Uyuni the day before I went to Sucre and didn't like the idea of spending a night there. It was a good thing that one of the guys in my tour was also going to Sucre. I was too lazy to book a room and he was staying in the hostel he stayed before so I just decided to tag along with him. We were supposed to arrive at the bus station at 4am and we agreed to wait for the morning before we head to the hostel. But we reached Sucre an hour earlier, and someplace else he wasn't familiar with. So we just took a cab and spent three hours in the plaza (which is another story).
Anyway, the hostel is just a few blocks from the plaza so we went there on foot and a sleepy but friendly boy named Martin greeted us. I think he just woke up when I rang their bell. I got my own room at the first floor for 70Bs. They have a big and lovely courtyard. There was no breakfast but they have a kitchen and I experienced for the first time cooking my own food in a hostel.
Hostal Compania de Jesus - Potosi
I read from the LP guidebook that this hostal was a former Carmelite monastery. I was intrigued so I headed there from the bus station and thankfully, they had a room for me. The building has tiny but pretty courtyards and it was sort of a maze inside that I had some difficulty finding the dining area. My room was big enough and clean although the toilet and its door looked really old. It was particularly cold in Potosi but the sheets they provided were warm enough. There was a view of a bell tower and Cerro Rico from my toilet window. (While waiting for the shower to get hot, you can pass time by enjoying the view. Wait, was there a hot shower? I can't exactly remember.)
When night came, I was awaiting for creepy noises or voices and other out-of-this-world phenomenon to happen. Thankfully, nothing abnormal happened.
Hotel La Cupula - Copacabana
This is the most beautiful accommodation I have ever had in my six weeks of traveling in Peru and Bolivia. Beauty has a price though and I had to walk for more than two hours to get to this hotel. It's not the norm. It's just than when I went to Copacabana, there was a strike and all the roads to the town were blocked. And it didn't help that the map in my phone showed a wrong location of La Cupula. I only realized that when I had already descended a very steep road. So I had to
A friendly staff welcomed me and carried my backpack to my room. This was the first and only time that someone helped me with my stuff and I really appreciated it. I took the cheapest room they got. My room was a little small but it was cute and really lovely. It was also the only room I had that had a heater. It got very cold at night and the heater was a big help.
They also have two grass gardens and there were some hammock for lounging in lazy afternoons. One time, there was a flock of sheep outside my room and I had no idea why they were there but it was a good surprise. I didn't have a view of Lake Titicaca from my room. But I only needed to go out and I could see the lake and the town. It was really, really, really beautiful.
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| View of Copacabana from Hotel La Cupula. |
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