Blogs from La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 13

Starting last night I began to feel the effects of altitude sickness. It starts with a really bad headache, tiredness, loss of appetite, restless sleeping and in my case, lots of nausea. I felt well enough to head down to dinner in the hotel and had the most wonderful chicken soup and spaghetti Bolognese. I took a couple pictures, but really couldn’t justify putting up yet another chicken soup or spaghetti Bolognese shot. I have a feeling you can come up with an image in your mind. I didn’t sleep well at all, but when it came time to get up, I was too tired. I snooze alarmed for an hour and a half. Then of course came the mad dash to shower, gather my things and head down to meet my tour guide. I was ... read more

We caught a flight from the tiny airport in Uyuni, which as it took off provided a spectacular view of the salt flats once again. 45 minutes later and we had arrived in Bolivias capital city of La Paz. Underwhelmed at the flat, poverty stricken views from the plane, at first it hadn't quite reached the expectations and visions we had in mind. After bartering a couple of BoB's off of our taxi journey, it wasn't long before we we soon realised that what we had seen out of the plane window was not actually La Paz, but a separate nearby city. 10 minutes or so after leaving the airport, we turned a corner and gained our first view of the incredible city of La Paz. Squeezed into a deep valley with mountains situated like book ... read more

Eh bien, La Paz est toute une ville dans un espace très restreint et sujet aux tremblements de terre. C'est l'été en ce moment et donc le temps est très changeable. Les Boliviens n'aiment pas la pluie comme nous au Québec n'aimons pas les grosses tempêtes de neige ou la pluie verglaçante. Ils se réfugient le long des bâtiments pour se mettre à l'abris. Quand il pleut, les trottoirs deviennent glissants et les rues des minis rivières. Ce matin donc, gros soleil. Cette après-midi de la pluie en titi! Bienvenue à La Paz. Well, La Paz is quite the city in a small space, think skinny valley, and subject to earthquakes. Summer consists of sun and rain!!!!!! Lots of both! So, sunburnt face this morning on the top deck of a bus and soaking wet (not ... read more

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is situated high up in the mountains, and at 3650 meters it easily gains the title as the world’s highest capital. On advice of our hostel in Copacabana we booked our trip there with Diana Tours who turned out to be a tour organizer, not a regular bus company. This meant we got a ride all the way to the center of the city instead of going to the bus terminal. As we didn’t know where to go from there we then had to take a cab that drove us a staggering 2 blocks to our hostel. Our first day in La Paz we decided to take a walking tour recommended to us by some fellow travelers in Copacabana. It was again a walking tour where the guide worked for ... read more

The bus ride was an interesting experience, more uncomfortable than dangerous as I don't think the bus went faster than 50km per hour. Apparently the main road is being renovated so the entire journey was through a rocky field (not even a dirt road) which runs parallel to the main road. We arrived in la Paz exhausted and decided to treat ourselves to a night of luxury at the Stannum hotel. The hotel occupies the 12th floor of a building in the 'posh' suburbs of la Paz and boasts breathtaking views of the bowl shaped city with buildings clinging to its sides and the beautiful snow capped mt illamani. With our exquisite view of this city built in an ancient crater we didn't feel so bad spending the entire day in bed watching Cruel Intentions and ... read more