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Published: June 19th 2006
Having finally made it back from Rurrenbaque (finaly made it on a plane the next morning!),we check into our cool hostel- The Adventure Brew- strange but it seems that a Bolivian who is a mechanical engineer had caught onto what a hostel needs- free beer each night (created by the engineer/owner), and unlimited pancakes in the morning..one catch..the place was still under construction...so as u are there having a shower, there are these small Bolivians, working outside your window, occasionaly trying to peer through the foddy glass!!
I had gotten quite worried when my flight got cancelled, as i was due to meet a friend of mine, Elliot, who was arriving from Canada into La Paz at midnight. after multiple failed attempts at trying to get onto a flight, i managed to organise for my friend Claudio to meet him at the airport with a signpost- Elliot Falovitvh. i had met Elliot in Thailand, and we had kept in touch over the time. He had some time and decided to make the smart move and come and join me in South America! (karen and chris would remember him). Elliot is loud, funny, and makes a great wingman! arriving at the
hostel, i found him passed out from jetlag...and soon afterwards he began to show signs of the wonderous Bolivian traveller´s bug! the guy was over the moon when 3 days later he passed his first normal stool! such things become a godsend on holidays!
La Paz is a cool city. sprawling houses on the mountainside, surrounded by majestic white covered mountains.the streets are well kept,and its a shopper's paradise- there was the witches market with Lama fetuses and bizzare herbs and odd animal parts, and street stalls nd shops selling ecerything from Alpaca or Lama fleeces, scarves, gloves...wall hangings...everything! no doubt my shopping spree started! and had left La Paz with my backpack at full capacity, almost bursting at the seams!
On Thursday, we headed off to Tiwanaku- an ancient pre-inca site which, we later found out, was largely destroyed by the conquering spaniards! the site was full of odd objects and statues- largely those depicting the sun god and had multiple carvings. some statues would even have board shorts! obviously clear that Billabong ripped the design of these ancient statues. It was clear that The Tiwanaku people were a conquering and prosperous people and they are
the ancestors of the Andean culture with their influence occupying lands across Modern-day Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. Their Religion was centred on the Sun god, whose origins originate in the nearby crystal lake Titicaca. It was amazing how this ancient people realised the annual calendar, having divided it into 12 months, 365days a year, 7 days a week and solstice timing. I never cease to be amazed to see different cultures, different continents realising the language of the solar system!
That night, we headed of to the Bar ram Jam, filled with strangely good looking Bolivians (believe me..we went through most of Bolvia thinking that god must have hit these people with the ugly stick..sorry...its true!). it seems abit of make up can do wonders! This is also the Bar which had the world´s highest 'Oxygen Bar'- as tourists, we obviously tried it believing iy¡t would aid in our altitude problems for the upcoming dancing. I felt like a patient with it on, and it did nothing to my altitude problems as we ventured out to the club Mongoes, weher my breathing remained tiresome!
Then on saturday came El Gran Poder, in honour of a Patron Saint. The
witch´s market
Lama fetuses...the market contained all these bizzare things that they used for medicinal purposes!colourful street Parade woke me up soon after 7am, and continued well after i slept at midnight. There was alot of merry drinking. thousands of Bolivians dancing throught the streets, with amazing costumes (god knows how they could afford alot of these elaborate and intricate costumes). we got some seats on the stands and just sat there mesmerised by their energy and enthusiasm, and felt involved in their joy and spirit!
the next morning, we boarded the morning bus for Copacabana (no..it is not the one mentioned in the Barry Manilow song!)
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David
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origin of the word Copacabana
The Copacabana Barry Manilows sings about is Rio's beach, but the origin of the name of the brazilian beach is there, in Bolivia´s Copacabana, it's an aymara name. Centuries ago someone took a Virgen de Copacabana to Rio, and the beach took the name from our Virgen.