the long walk to copacabana

Bolivia is notorious when it comes to road travels. Heavy rains in the summer usually cause damage to its roads making them difficult if not impossible to pass through. But even with the perfect weather, locals may hold strikes by barricading the road networks when they are demanding something from the government, impairing transport. At least these are what guidebooks say. After spending three weeks in the country, I had never encountered any of those inconveniences. Until the day when I had to go to Copacabana.

I was informed beforehand about the road block and that it may not be possible to travel to Copacabana. But my hardheadedness prevailed and I still went to the bus station. Sure enough, there were no trips that day. And for the next? No one was sure when the strike would be over. The only option was to cross the border in Desguadero (to Peru) and walk 8km to the town upon reaching the next border in Yunguyo/Kasani. I held out for two more days in La Paz, hoping that the issue would be resolved by that time. And besides, I was also able to find someone I could tag along with in case we still had to walk.

Holding a strike and putting road blocks is the common way for Bolivian locals for their complaints to be addressed by and to negotiate their demands from the government. That time, they were raising their protest against the increase of the ferry crossing price (from 1.5Bs to 2Bs) on the Tiquina Strait along the road from La Paz to Copacabana. Without reaching an agreement, the protesters upped their demands and wanted a bridge crossing the strait instead. A bridge had already been proposed by the government a few years ago but the ferry operators opposed it simply because they would lose their business. So I was guessing that it would just go on and on and on with one party doing another strike if the results of the discussion was not favorable to them.

Two days later, I found myself walking solo on an almost-deserted road (there was another road though not really a short-cut), cursing my heavy pack and trying to retain my sanity. As it turned out, the person I was supposed to walk with was in different bus which left later so I also didn't see him at the immigration. I would have been really disappointed that day if I didn't get to meet two other Filipina in the bus. They were supposed to go to Copacabana the day before but because of the strike, they went to La Paz instead, spent the night there and were on their way to Puno that day. The three of us were surprised. Who would have thought we will meet a fellow traveling Filipino (although both of them already migrated to Canada) in that part of the world? They were very nice and even gave me their energy bars knowing that I must take a long walk to get to my destination.

If not for the rocks, lumps of soil and tree stumps blocking the road (and the fact that we had to walk) it wouldn't seem like there was a strike (at least it was unlike here in the Philippines). The place was serene and I didn't feel any kind of tension at all. I even saw a soccer game held in one of the small villages. Travel guides advise tourists not to try to cross these road blocks. But the many groups of locals holding the strike whom I saw along the road didn't mind us. An old man even walked and chatted with me.

The atmosphere of Copacabana was dead. Although hotels and restaurants were business-as-usual, almost all other establishments were close. The boats going to Isla del Sol were also not in operation. Before the strike, it was hard to find a place to stay because all the accommodations were fully booked. But when I took a stroll one night, there were only few rooms with light in all of the hotels across the lake. It was the holy week and the town was supposed to be packed with all the tourists and pilgrims coming from nearby towns. It was supposed to be a good time for businesses to gain a large profit but it was impossible in that situation.

The act of holding the strike showed unity among its townspeople. And that they were willing to make sacrifices for the government to hear their demands. But I still wondered if everyone in town supported this strike. If I were one of the business owners, I would have wanted to take advantage of the high season and hold the strike after the holy week instead. Or as a normal townsfolk, I wouldn't be using the ferry service everyday anyway so the 0.5Bs fare increase would hardly affect me. I guess it would be hard for me to understand this kind of thing. I guess strikes and road blocks are simply part of the Bolivian culture..