La Paz - Day 2 Was A Ghost Town

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May 30 - Day 2 in La Paz

After a first day in which we went somewhat overbudget due to our foolish decision to eat meals in tourist trap restaurants, we committed to a lower budget for the day today. That was assisted by the fact that we finally learned what the fireworks were about! It is a national holiday in Bolivia and basically the entire town was shut down. Stubbornly, Jess and I marched from district to district in the city in an attempt to find the most gringo of the gringo bars/restaurants to potentially meet people or wile away the time. After over five hours of walking through the streets - running into street jugglers, a Bolivian Burger King, and what looked like an "Occupy La Paz" movement on their main street, we settled into a bar and felt brave enough to try our first Bolivian beer of the trip. Jess ordered a microbrew from Sucre that was actually great... but their national beer tastes like Coors Light mixed with Lucky Lager and aged in a used laundry hamper for a couple weeks.

Not much else to say about today, but I was able to get caught up with blog posts!

Mike

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Photos

The Main Plaza in front of the office of the President
Covered in pidgeons - or as we lovingly call them, flying rats!

Calle Jean
The only street in La Paz that they have maintained in the Spanish colonial style - home to tons of museums

Coffee with a side of cream
When you get cream for coffee in Bolivia, it comes as whipped cream. Mike is obviously excited by this revelation!

Comments

[Judy Harrigan]

Two days
It sounds like things are starting off well. I am looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing from Jessica, too.