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Published: February 17th 2007
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Sr. Roque and his beautiful grandson!
We met these two in a plaza and had a nice chat with them both. Well, the altitude continues to have its effects on Laurence and I. Either that or I am in worse shape than I thought but it continues to be difficult climbing the steep strets of La Paz. What to say about La Paz... The setting is stunning, surrounded by high snow capped mountains the main city of La Paz is sheltered in a beautiful gorge. The other side of the coin is that given that La Paz is the fastest growing city in South America, there are huge slum areas in around the lip of the gorge, known as El Alto. El Alto residents do not have access to clean drinking water, sanitary services or proper and legal shelter from the driving cold of the altiplano.
OUr stay in LP lasted 5 days and included lots of sight seeing, mostly churches and visiting the numerous and spectacular markets that typify Bolivia. Whatever you are looking for is available in some stall around some corner or in someones car, definetly no need for Wal-mart here. One market in particular, the witches market is fun to visit because of the dried llama fetuses for sale. No joke, many small dried baby llamas are
for sale. There are to be buried underneath the foundations of houses or new business to provide good luck and an offering to Pachmamma, or mother earth. Aside from this are the textiles which are of numerous qualities and designs. Did bargain for a coiple pieces which should be a nice addition to my apartment when I get home.
I was also sold an authentic fossil from Lake Titticac by an old crippled man, whom I just couldnñt say no too. After first starting the price off at 15 Bs, dropping it quickly to 4 Bs (7o cents) nI relented and bought the clearly fake merchendise. No worries though.
Last story for the blog involves a good old ¨what the heck did I just eat´¨ tale. It started out on Friday night when laurence and I noticeds a large fair and night market taking place near the river. Lots of families were wandering the midway, playing games and buying food and drinks and so we wandered into the fray. Not having eaten and in need of some food, I approached a large line of women grilling what looked to be some of the most delicious meat I have
seen in Bolivia. Bright red and vacant of fat my mouth quickly salivated for the grilled offering. I queried one smiling lady , How Much? She replied 3.50 BS, about 50 cents CDN. Encouraged by the budget meal I said, please one plate please. She laughed and tossed the meat onto the grill, painting it with a sauce using a stick that at its end was a shredded plastic bag which acted as a basting bruch ,hhhhmmmmm I know. Add the scent of the river just below which is La Paz´s impromptu sewage system and you begin to get a picture of the situation. Just as laurence standing 10 meterrs away from me, shaking her head adds info to the decision on my part to part take in the fair food.
As the meat cooked, I made conversation and asked the lady behind the grill what sort of meat it was I was getting. Was it shoulder or vacio as I had tried before or something else. She replied, laughing that it was heart adding to the laughter of all the surrounding ladies who seemed to find something quite funny about a gringo dressed head to tow in MEC gear eating mystery meat. I laughed with them saying, yes, yes, I bet its heart meat, truly thinking they were playing a joke on me.
As she puched the meat from the grill and handed me the plate, I thanked her for the cheap and decent looking meal. As I tucked into this meat, which by the way tasted good I was struck by the strange texture of the beef, almost chewy but not like sort of like well cooked calamari. As I continued to eat this strange meat, I hesistantly asked again in halting Spanish ¨so really what part of the cow is this meat from?¨ She, laughingly replied ¨seriously Sr. it is the heart meat! at which time I saw the empty heart muscle, picked clean of meat except for the huge valves behind the counter of the grill. If you can picture 8 or 10 old ladies cooking up meat behing grills laughing at this gringo well you can picture the scenne. I laughed with them and continued eating my heart, mostly out of spite because as the knowledge grew in my mind that it was the heart I was eating, the harder it became to choke down the meat. I´ll admit that I only almost finished my plate of heart meat and left some for the dogs. Regardless of the taste, it proved to be a great story during my time in La Paz Bolivia.
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Boris
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The heart you ate
The heart meat on a stick made on a grill is "Anticucho", with some condiment made of peanuts is delicious.