Cochabamba and La Paz

Unfortunately we lost most of our Bolivia pictures, because our camera got stolen in Cusco (Peru).... more about this later.........

COCHABAMBA

It´s been a while since our last publication. Reason being we have done a lot of travelling and haven´t spend much time at one place....

As said in our last blog entry (for those who can remember...), we took the night train from Uyuni to Oruro. The train was punctual and comfortable (bonus!!!), that is except for the heating which was on full all night long. As soon as we got to Oruro we took a 6 hour bus to Cochabamba (towards the east of Bolivia).

Upon arrival the guy from our hostel did not have a computer. As a consequence of which, it was impossible for him to have received our online reservation!! The room was basic, but looked ok-ish, so we decided to take it. Wrong choice! Loads of insects everywhere would keep us awake for most of the night, so we decided to leave the next morning as early as possible to La Paz. The highlight of our short Cochabamba visit was the massive market.....

LA PAZ

Early in the morning we took the first bus to La Paz (7 hours), determined to get a good hostel and some decent sleep. That is what we needed after 3 nights in very basic accommodation on the Salar tour, one night in an overheated train wagon and a night in an insect infested room.....
The stories we heard beforehand about La Paz were at best mixed. Dirty and dangerous were words that were mentioned a lot.

Fortunately our experience of La Paz was a lot more positive than expected. we staid at a lovely hostel (hostel Naira) right in the center of the city, next to the Cathedral. The room was really comfortable with a great shower. Strange how much you start to appreciate these things, after you have had to do without it for a while.... We were happy to pay 30 USD for it.

La Paz is a really nice place to take it easy for a few days. We enjoyed the nice coffee bars, quirky markets and good restaurants (Waggamama´s!!!!). The city tour was fantastic value. 6 USD for 4 hours with English commentary on our headsets. The 85 different presidents Bolivia had in 87 years stuck to my mind....
The high light of the tour was the moon valley, impressive!!
To our surprise there are lots of really nice houses and some really good areas in La Paz. You can measure people wealth by the altitude on which their house is located. The lower house, the wealthier you are (better climate). There is a 800 meter difference between the lowest and the highest point (3,800 m) in La Paz.
After 4 days our batteries were fully charged again and we headed for Cochabamba, at Lake Titikaka.

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