Playing Frogger on the streets of La Paz

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First Impressions

Our plane landed at dawn, and once we were through customs and immigration, we stepped out of the airport to an incredible view of Huyana Potosi in the early morning light. I wasn't expecting the colours to be so rich--the blue, blue sky and the golden earth.

The first views over the rim into the canyon where La Paz is were amazing. Driving down, I was impressed with how clean La Paz is, for a city.

We checked into our hotel around 7:30am, and I spent the day in bed, recovering from the flight (see below) and dealing with the onset of soroche (altitude sickness).

Crossing the streets here is a bit like playing frogger. I'd like to be able to say that in Bolivia they drive on the right side of the road, but the truth is, they drive wherever there is a gap. During the morning and evening rush hours, there are police officers to control the traffic, but the pedestrians are left to find ways across the streets on their own. The exception is some of the bigger intersections, where people in zebra outfits help the pedestrians figure out when they can go. This is the only time there is a clear path to walk from one side of the street to the other.

Comedy of Errors

Our flights to Bolivia were booked by a travel agent who must have a sadistic side. If I'd had any say in it, they would have been vetoed, and something better found.

Our first flight, from Calgary to Dallas, was 45 minutes late departing because one of the navigational computers broke. The pilot assured us he could still get to Dallas, but it meant submitting the flight plan to air traffic control manually.

At least our next flight, to Boston, was on the same plane, so we wouldn't miss the connection. Still, we had to de-plane for the security sweep.

Once everyone going to Boston had boarded (or re-boarded) and the plane left the gate, we stopped. The pilot announced that there was a fuel spill on the ground behind us that needed to be cleaned up. A few minutes later he announced it was actually a 'lavatory spill,' and we absolutely were not allowed to taxi through it.

By this time, all of the delays had cut our layover in Boston down by about an hour, seriously cutting into our only chance for a bite to eat.

We couldn't leave Dallas for another thirty minutes, because of weather delays. The pilot managed to make up a bit of time, but they still had to hold our next flight (to Miami) for us. At least it left relatively on time, and after watching an unbelievable susnet over the east coast, we had a whole twenty minutes to change planes in Miami for the final flight to La Paz. The whole journey took about twenty four hours.

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