Crossing the border to bolivia

Arriving back in puno from the islands, we decided to go to the bolivian consulate to see how much the visas would be. What we found out was not only did the visa cost $135 each, but we would also need to have copies of our passports, airline tickets, bank statements, a reservation in Bolivia, and passport photos. It was a huge pain in the ass to the say the least, and took us two days to organize before the secretary would finally stamp our passports. But in retrospect I think it was the right thing to do, instead of arriving at the border clueless, with nothing in order, and having the bus leave us there, which did happen to a few people sitting next to us.