La Paz....Finally

---

Guess what? WE MADE IT! YAY!

Had a great 6 or so hours exploring Santiago and now I wish we had have stayed longer.

Things finally started to look up just after we arrived back at the airport;
1. I had a delicous coffee
2. We were waiting to board and just having a chat with eachother and the guy sitting behind us pops his head over the seat and says ´Hey girls, how ya going?´

So we have some new Aussie friends (Julian, Jarrah and Nathan) from South Coast NSW. It has been a WICKED 6 days!

The hostel scene in La Paz is really cool. The two main hostels being The Loki and The Wild Rover. The first night (we arrived at 2 in the morning) we had a wander into town for something to eat and had an early night.

Loki Hostel is HUGE and definitely the place to be in La Paz. The bar does an awesome breakfast, lunch and dinner - as a rough example bacon and eggs on toast is $1AU. My favourite, chicken caprese baguette with chips is $4AU and drinks range anywhere from 50c a beer to approx $3 for a vodka etc. CHEAP AS CHIPS!

Our first day we went to the witches market in town which are so traditional full of awesome knitted coloured goods - I bought a gorgeous red Llama little red riding hood type jumper for $10AU. Warm clothes are definitely required - the altitude makes it really chilly! All the women selling things at the market stalls are very sweet and shy and dress in the traditional Bolivian attire - wearing full pleated skirts with ponchos and long plats in their hair - they´re so cute. We went with the boys and it was hilarious. All of us like little kids in a lolly shop. For lunch we went to a traditional Bolivian restaurant, it was really quaint inside, lots of little ornaments on the walls etc. The boys got Llama steaks - they are very adventurous - and we had a taste so at least I can say I have tried Llama - even if it was just a mouthful. I do love the Coca tea though!

After lunch we went into a travel agent to scope out a few tours etc and met our first Bolivian friend, Carlos. This cute round old man with no front teeth. We didn´t book anything with him, he was more interested in taking us to his favourite drinking hole to try some Singani (the national wine/spirit) which you drink with Ginger ale. It was pretty good - considering I´m not the worlds biggest fan of ginger ale.

Afterwards we went back to the matrimonial suite (mine and Nic´s room) and had a little room party with the boys and another Aussie girl Alison, also from the south coast. Was so weird to think that I was the one out of the loop - being a Balmainiac and all! All the others are from Cronulla and further south. We played some cards and then went to the hostel bar and out to a local spot called Mongos. We both started to feel the effects of the altitude in Mongos and headed home only about an hour after arriving. Unfortunately the following morning I realised my camera was gone from our room so I have lost about a weeks worth of photos which I am really upset about!

Altitude wise we haven´t really faired too badly. It´s mostly the hills and stairs that are the worst, and dancing can be difficult.

We had a bit of a sleep in and domestic day the following day, washing, organising travels, booking things to do in La Paz etc. In the afternoon we went to the Coca Museum which was pretty interesting. It gives you a run through of the history of Cocaine, how it´s made, what it was previously used for medicinally, when it was made illegal, addiction etc etc. We tried the traditional coca leaves i.e. you take a mouthful of leaves and then add a little bit of ash which reacts with the leaves to release the best parts of the coca - it is definitely gag worthy. We bought a truckload of coca lollies for altitude sickness in preparation for Machu Picchu.

The next day was Death Road. OMG! This has to be one of the wildest things ever. It´s the worlds most dangerous road and you get to ride all the way down on a pushbike with fabulous brakes and fabulous suspension. It was FANTASTIC! The first part is bitchamin so it was a great way to get a feel for it. Then Death Road begins (and it´s gravel) - there is no possible better name for this road, the scenery is absolutely breath taking, but it´s a 600m drop with no guard rails so if you stack it over the edge you will probably die. In saying that our tour leader Yesse (pronounced Jesse) has gone over the edge I think 3 times in 8 years and he is still touring it - crazy Bolivian! After getting a feel for the road and the bike, I did hang back a little for the first few legs (I am a big wimp afterall) it was enough of the scenery and eyes on the road. Such a thrill, I would do it again if we had a few more days! By the last leg I was FLYING and can very proudly say Nicole and I were the first of the girls to finish (she beat me by about 10 seconds - she is as competetive as I am). We got a massive high five from our tour leader who was impressed at our female stamina!

Afterwards we headed for lunch and a swim - it´s really warm at the bottom of death road which was a nice change. Then back to the hostel for St Patricks day celebrations. I probably should add that the Loki and Wild Rover are both Irish owned so you can imagine what the celebrations were like. We had such a great night but it was absolutely massive and required a much needed R&R day following! And being as we had to move out of our lovely matrimonial suite into a dorm room we decided to head uptown and stay in nice hotel for our recovery day/night! Hence I am finally getting a chance to catch up on some blogging as the hotel has supplied us with a laptop for our room which between the 4 of us is less than $50AU each for the night. WELL WORTH IT!

The following day we headed back to the Loki, we were intially going to leave for Cusco but as it was the Loki Hostels 4th birthday black and white party how could we say no - the place is like a black hole I swear, ask ANYONE who has been! The party was great and we hit a few other local spots in town afterwards Traffic, The Blue House, Route 36. Had to be on the bus for Cusco at 0800 so that was a bit of a disaster.

And that´s about it for La Paz kids - it´s been a trashy week but we have made it to Cusco and start Inca Trek tomorrow! I´m really excited! Will give you the Cusco update after our Inca trek.

---

Comments

[Brian]

I Wish
Hi Girl's, love your blog, i love to do it again chewing on the Coca leave's on the Lare's trek, (14,534 feet) I'm sure i was floating over the mountain's, ha,ha. Have fun girl's cheer's. Brian

[Jen Coakley]

Hey girls, loving the blog, your trip sounds awesome, keep having fun!!