BureaucraZy and the Peace


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South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz
September 17th 2010
Published: September 19th 2010
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Bolivian AlpacasBolivian AlpacasBolivian Alpacas

Must admit the taste ain't that good: beef mixed with a liver flavour... But a certain lady does like it a lot, weird!

BureaucraZy



Ok, in itself this has nothing to do with Bolivia, but as we're right now in La Paz, Bolivia's de facto capital city, and we've started to prepare our next leg of the trip, we became annoyed: From South America we want to go to Africa and we've found a good connection. The issue appears to be that for the African country where we want to go Agi needs a visa, but there is no embassy nor consulate nearby, and the bloody French are not cooperative... We went to the French consulate on Friday and there the lady behind the glass said it wasn't possible, unless she would have been a resident here in Bolivia, which she's obviously not. 2 hours later we got an e-mail from the French consul himself, stating that is was possible. So on Monday we're heading back, hoping that all will work out. But the clock is ticking.... Maybe the country where we want to go should have stayed a French colony.... That would have been SOOOOOOO easy.... But ok, these problems are ours and not yours, so let's move on....

Isla del Sol


From Peru we headed to Copacabana (please, don't be
Sunset at CopacabanaSunset at CopacabanaSunset at Copacabana

Wow, this was our welcome view and it is just one of the many pics we took....
confused with the Brazilian beach.....)., as we wanted to go to Inca ruins which are scattered on Isla del Sol. As we arrived, again, a bit late we couldn´t head immediately to the island, but were forced to spent the night at Copacabana. Small town and probably in the w-end loaded with tourists from La Paz, but when we came there it was nice and quiet. Although we left Peru the previous day, we still had one issue to finish from Peru: the bottle of Pisco we bought at a bus station. Drinking this pure was indeed technically possible, just as the Peruvians told us, but not really 100% smart.... Me and Andris had some serious talks, but no clue anymore about what... but the views were nice. the sunset there at the lake: wow, it actually came close to the ones we saw in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.

The next day a small boat took us to Isla de Sol, the legendary Inca creation site and the birthplace of the sun in the Inca mythology. Small villages are scatted over the island, 12 communities live there. We were 'picked' up by a guide, so together with some other
Street view in CopacabanaStreet view in CopacabanaStreet view in Copacabana

The ladies selling hats, buns, ceviche (spicy raw fish salad), whipped egg-white served with dark beer, ...
tourists we followed him. Bad choice. The four of us planned to stay the night on the island, but most tourists go back with the afternoon boat. So we were rushed from site to site, as most wanted to catch that afternoon boat. We think we've seen the monolith and an Inca temple. But after 1 hour we left the group and did everything with our pace. The ruins / labyrinth on the North of the island were interesting and great fun. We walked from the North to the South on top of the mountain ridge in 4 hours. At one time actually we were helping a local lady to carry a huge wooden plank for the family´s new roof. No clue how she could carry it as it was bloody heavy, but we offered a helping hand and carried it over some hill tops and were rewarded with some cute lama/alpaca bracelets. Nice views, nice landscape and not many tourists did we see, so all good. The next day we headed back to the 'main land' for breakfast and lunch. Near the market we found some lovely whipped egg whites served with dark beer. Strange combination at first, but
Inca LabyrinthInca LabyrinthInca Labyrinth

In the North of Isla del Sol, former Inca place of worship. Partly reconstructed. Perfect for playing hide-and-seek and to try to scare the others...
the taste was pretty good. Think we'll try this one once we get home... Next destination: The Peace, or in proper Castellano: La Paz.

The Peace of La Paz



Our friends, Gina and Andris had only limited time here, as they had some things prearranged in Peru, so they had to return to Peru pretty fast. We actually had with them one evening and one morning/afternoon in La Paz before a bus took them back to Peru. We decided to splurge a bit in La Paz and ended up in the most fancy hotel where we've been in ages. Think it was the first time since Las Vegas that we rode an elevator in a hotel.... which is in itself not too bad when you think about walking stairs with backpacks (as we normally do) 😊 But OK, in the evening we enjoyed a nice city walk and marvelled at the positioning of the city: wedged between the mountains. We thought it would be a bit more dramatic, but still quite impressive. Ended up in a nice restaurant where we had good Cuban food and there we convinced also our friends to bring along some stuff of ours back to Luxembourg, which will save a few kilo's postal package costs for us or extra weight to carry.

In the morning we headed to Valle de la Luna: a badland area near La Paz: desolate mud/volcanic peaks crammed together in a canyon. Strange because already in the way to there you could see the landscape changing into strange rock formations and pinnacles and at that time we were still in the outskirts of La Paz. The Valley itself is also in the outskirts, it could almost be a city park. Nice views though, but we decided to close the tourist part for that day by going to a look-out point in the middle of the big valley in which La Paz is situated. Nice views and loads of school kids playing in the nearby playgrounds, while the men are playing football everywhere on small soccer fields. But all good things come to an end: our friends had to go back to Peru, so we said our goodbye's and we were again with just the 2 of us. It's really nice to see familiar faces after 1 year on the road. We enjoyed their company, guess they also enjoyed
Isla del Sol's inhabitantsIsla del Sol's inhabitantsIsla del Sol's inhabitants

Besides the 12 communities on the island, some lovely sheep occupy a part of the place.
ours....

In the w-end we didn't do much, besides up-dating our blog and preparing for Monday's 2nd visit to the French consulate. But we did do one thing on Saturday: a simple day trip away from La Paz to Coroico, described as Bolivia's eden, it's the point in Bolivia where the Amazon meets the Andes. It´s very interesting to see how the snowy, rocky mountains turn on the other side into lush green mountains and lovely gorges. Loads of treks available, however we just lingered around, as we hadn't enough time. Had a beer/juice and a chilling afternoon in a garden and as the sun was setting down headed back to La Paz. Lovely views though on the way to Coroico. Just a pitty it was the 'dry' season, cause quite some dust was in the air in/around Coroico, so the views from there were not to good....

365



Ok, stupid details, but while in La Paz we reached a nice milestone: on September 15 we reached 365 days. We're travelling now for over one year, and all is still great. OK, our stupid photo camera always thinks that we've traveled one day more, but that's just
Inca Sacrifice RockInca Sacrifice RockInca Sacrifice Rock

Near the Inca labyrinth. Someone volunteered but I could not find a shaman quick enough to do the ceremony...
because when we flew from Fiji to Los Angeles we had twice the same day as we crossed the date line. Can't they make cameras any smarter to cope with this???

Fancy Dress a Wrestling Arena - The Final Update



Ok, this has been added 2 weeks after the initial publication, just because we figured that the last part of our Bolivian time didn't 'deserve' an entry on its own... sad as it may be. But the last night was really fun: Cholitas Wrestling, Lucha libre (Spanish for "free wrestling" or "free fighting") is a form of professional wrestling with loads of mock combat techniques and moves, as well as "high-flying moves" and colorful masks. But the ladies have uber-long braided hair, bowler hats and multilayered skirts in the ring. The arena is in a run down sports hall up on 'El Alto', overlooking the La Paz valley,

No shame in the ring. The men take up the ladies and it became pretty rough. The ladies were really thrown from the ring on the floor (a nice 2 meter drop, in case you include the ropes around the ring as well...) and trashed over the fences in
The Peak of TiticacaThe Peak of TiticacaThe Peak of Titicaca

The lake is at 3600 meters and this is the highest point of the island: approx 4000 meters.
the public. The public joins in by hurling oranges at the wrestlers who they 'hate', somehow always the masculine ones... But they use the oranges then again happily by smashing them in the faces of the ladies...

We saw a few fights: 1-on-1, or 2-on-2 tag-teaming. Not all fight were with the ladies, though. But one thing was really clear: the crowd (including us) loved it and the wrestlers made a good show out of it. Most of the crows are locals: happy fams having a nice Sunday evening program. After a while you don't know where to look anymore, especially in case it's a 2-on-2 tag-teaming fight. Basically it always ended up in 2 1-on-1 fights and the referee is often not too shy to join as well with a few proper punches and kicks... Great fun to watch with a huge bag of popcorn on your lap!!!

Adios Bolivia



Bolivia has loads more, but our time was too limited and we faced some uncertainties. We didn't know when our boat from Buenos Aires would leave. We only had an approximate departure date, So we decided to give a miss to the salt plains, the train
Views to the MainlandViews to the MainlandViews to the Mainland

The giants reach up to over 6000 meters. The color patterns changed every minute during the sunset.
grave yard, the coals mines and loads more. Instead we headed to B.A. immediately by bus: 56 hours. So here we are now, stuck, as it appears that our ship has a bit of a delay....


Additional photos below
Photos: 24, Displayed: 24


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Isla de la LunaIsla de la Luna
Isla de la Luna

Next the the 'Sun' Island is the tiny Moon Island. Logical... This is the place where the Inca's had a 'convent' for 'sacred' sun virgins.
Sunset at Isla del SolSunset at Isla del Sol
Sunset at Isla del Sol

Again a sunset picture, but this time looking to the East, to the other side of the mainland.
Breakfast at the marketBreakfast at the market
Breakfast at the market

Api morado with buñuelos, Yummie!!!! Or to make it more informative: Hot purple-corn drink with cloves and cinnamon served with donuts drenched in super sweet syrup.
La Paz' Iglesia de San FranciscoLa Paz' Iglesia de San Francisco
La Paz' Iglesia de San Francisco

At night, but that's obvious I think.
Valle de la LunaValle de la Luna
Valle de la Luna

Jusy outside La Paz' centre is this small, but interesting 'freak of nature'. The funny thing is that afterwards you'll start to notice many more of these 'rock' formations around the centre when leaving the main valley.
La Paz during the day.La Paz during the day.
La Paz during the day.

View form our first hotel.
La Paz during the night.La Paz during the night.
La Paz during the night.

View form our first hotel.
Sneak Preview....Sneak Preview....
Sneak Preview....

Our Sunday night program: Fighting Cholitas. And we've got VIP seats!!!!!
Cholita Tag TeamCholita Tag Team
Cholita Tag Team

Guess you don't want to meet these Mama's in a dark alley----
The CrowdThe Crowd
The Crowd

The youngsters with the masks and their mothers with the bowler hats.
Poor Mr. ClownPoor Mr. Clown
Poor Mr. Clown

Suddenly he wasn't that happy anymore. But at least the whole audience was supporting him. He lost, though.
Public Educational InitiativePublic Educational Initiative
Public Educational Initiative

How the cross a zebra path and make the cars stop: Cute, but necessary. The zebras danced on the street and sometimes worked in a herd of 5 zebras.
3 steps for good luck:3 steps for good luck:
3 steps for good luck:

Step 1: Grind the dried lama fetus. Step 2: Sprinkle it on your doorstep. Step 3: Believe that it works.


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