Only up from here...

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****SPOILER ALERT****

La Paz may be our least favourite spot we have yet to ever visit. ever. don´t go.



As much as I would have liked to have kept a better track of putting up posts, taking photos, and journaling, the last six days have been a solid testament to our patience. Perhaps, the last week was a gift from somewhere, to teach us this patience. To say it has been a long, long six days is an understatement. Shall we begin?

I should start off by saying that although this city now has left a terribly unfortuante taste in our mouths, there have been a few lovely moments, and several incredibly helpful and kind people. Yet overall, bad taste.

Our luggage took three days to arrive, thank god we had booked a nice, PRIVATE, room for the first few nights so we could just veg and try to not freak out at the possibility of our stuff never arriving. My (morgan) stuff came first, which raised a red flag as to why the hell Matt´s wasn´t with it ... but we waited. Communication has proved to be far more difficult than we originally thought. Hardly anyone speaks English so trying to call avianca, and united, while trying to ask the front desk ladies to call on our behalf was frustrating. But alas, you must breathe, in said situations, and breathe we did. a day later Matt´s luggage came and we were complete! Ready to take on Bolivia! with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism we checked out of our hotel and wandered through the streets (gasping for air...this place is high! 4200 metres high!) to our hostel...adventure brew hostel. After checking in we went up to the top level bar, which boasted incredible views of the surrounding mountains, and cheap quasi terrible beer, and met some other travellers. After chits and chats, a mexican restaurant was recommended to us and off we went.

and now our travel story turns sour.

we sat down in the full restaurant off of cochabamba street near san francisco square and decided on burritos, nachos, tequila and a beer. water was overpriced so i got up to buy one right in front of the restaurant, only to return exactly one minute later to no bag. because of my distrust in everyone, including hostels etc., I had my camera, passport, phone, cards, sunnies, and journal on me in a secure little bag. everything gone. we were had. we got scammed by some bloody pros. a man sat down behind our table, asked matt for time (in English..red flag in hindsight) matt turned for a second to give him the time, and BAM his partner in crimecame up behind and snatched my bag which was at our table against the wall, right near matt. I returned and well, anyone who knows me probably can guess what happened next.

a scene was made. tears, screams, swears, running up and down the street pumped so full of adrenaline, ready to curb stomp whoever had my bag, all the while knowing, it was fruitless. it was but a complete waste of energy...and even when i knew it was in vain, i still had some ounce of hope they´d turn the corner, matt would recognize them, and they would forever regret they day they jacked us.

but to no avail. i had hoped in karma, but instead learned a rough lesson that night.



a couple of local street musicians offered me a joint while i was hyperventilating in the street, tourists offered to help, locals walked by without a hint of empathy. i was just another idiot tourist, crying like a baby. we were furious, embarassed, SO angry, and confused. what next? I truly do not know what I would do if I were alone. matt still had everything, money, phone, etc. that night was not good. I couldn´t sleep, we both kept having visions of what we would have done had we known what was going on. the next day was operation get over it and fix it.

police report took a whole day to sort out ...even at the designated tourist police station, they didn´t speak any english, so what could have been a 10 minute process took a few hours, and a lot of walking to find a place to print off a copy of my passport.

canadian embassy took a whole day to sort out. the woman, rocio, was so kind and helpful, but still tons of paper work, tons of calls back home, and $400 later. passport canada charges you if your passport is stolen. salt in the already sufficiently deep, and festering wound. just great.



we met several other people who fell victim to the local scams, including the classic fake police routine, and walking around after the fact, we are so much more aware of how sketchy people can be. yes, it can happen anywhere, but it happened here, and this place is now tainted.

we were supposed to catch a 12 hr bus to SUCRE last night, to get the hell out of this place, but the roads were closed (why? we have no idea, apparently just a part of life here... gotta roll with it) so we will be trying again tonight. fingers crossed we can leave today. another day in la paz makes us feel sick to our stomachs. here´s to hoping we can wash clean our first impressions of bolivia and replace them with beautiful scenery, nice locals, and no scam artitsts. wish us luck.

-morgan

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