Coca In The Capital

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We had only heard bad reports about La Paz, however, we thought it was a great place to spend a few days. In particular, the main boulevards were reminiscent of any European drag but with more huge (& very busy) icecream parlours, including one called "Dumbo's" complete with large effigy.
We ate our first breakfast in La Paz at the refined Cafe Luna, it is one of the very few places to give you real butter with your bread which makes it worth the extra bolivanos.
Having booked our pampas tour, we then visited the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in a fabulous building designed by Gustave Eiffel. There was an exhibition of Eusebio Choque's; heaps of paintings of outlined figures in varying chullos (woolly hats with earpieces) & ponchos, & lots of other artists work for sale as well. We loved a huge Hernan C painting as the eyes of the girl in it were incredible, but at US$550 it was slightly too pricey. For lunch, we found a tiny hole-in-the-wall place serving hot, just created, delicious empañadas & chips. With two grapefruit juices, the bill came to 7.5B (just over a dollar).
Next off to the excellent Coca Museum. They have translations in various languages making it really easy to get an insight into the traditional uses & meanings of coca & the chewing thereof, along with how it is processed into the white stuff & the fight against the latter. It also shows the results of scientific studies indicating that chewing really does aid with high altitude living, but you need to chew for 30 minutes, no gracias!
Dined at the fab Dutch-owned Cafe Sol y Luna. It is not cheap relative to Bolivian fare, but it is delicious food with real gruyere cheese & the Saya micro-brewed Colonial beer was good stuff. I omitted to mention that we actually dined with Bernice, from the language school in Cusco, & her friend Sharon. We ran into her on our way to find a spot for dinner. How small the world of the traveller is.

Drink of the day: Saya Colonial Beer

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