Blogs from La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 14

I’d asked Ronald to go on to the next place so I could finish a few things off in La Paz and we could then meet up tomorrow, which he agreed to. As well as getting a few things done (things that can only be done when I have access to wifi – most of my planning requires wifi) whilst I really enjoy travelling with Ronald and enjoy his company I wanted to be alone for one day and night in this capital city to be sure I could be independent and look out for myself as I had been able to do during my trip up to now. I would be horrified to find that I had to rely solely on anybody but myself to carry out my plans and therefore even when I have ... read more

We checked out of our hostel in La Paz and headed to Carnaval 2015 to watch the parade, with the aim of leaving for Tiahuanacu in the afternoon. Carnaval was amazing. There were lots of bands there each playing different instruments to different rhythms depending on the national song of their community, people were dancing and wearing different costumes. We had waited a long time for it to start, found a place with a good view of the parade whilst not getting wet and for a whole hour watched kids (and plenty of adults) all wearing disguises from superman to Clockwork orange, racing around spraying each other with foam, water pistols and throwing water bombs. The parade consisted of groups of communities from La Paz, dressed in themed and very colourful costumes, dancing to a band ... read more

EVENING In the evening we headed down to the Feria de Alasitas. This happens once a year and consists of a square full of vendors selling hand-made miniatures of anything you might like a bigger version of, in the coming year. You can buy just about anything as each one of the hundreds of vendors specialises in a different thing. There is everything from farm animals and agriculture related things, shops, diplomas from all universities, driving licenses, passports, (frogs, elephants and buddhas all representing fortune), cars, all types of food, fruit and vegetables – anything you can’t afford now but you want to be able to afford within the next year. Once you buy the miniatures you put them together on a plate creating your vision of the future. The people then burn incense around it ... read more

We both had a nice breakfast in the hostel. As it was an open buffet I ate what I could, I had cereal, coffee with milk, a glass of orange, bread and butter, and a dish full of banana, papaya and melon. It was a good start to the day which I’d dedicated to catching up with some jobs so we could enjoy the rest of the trip around Bolivia following Ronald’s itinerary and using La Paz as a base.... read more

We left the church and went on to have breakfast in the local market with the local people. We had coffee with milk (fresh from the cow), bread and ‘queso fresco’ (fresh cheese made straight from the cows' milk that very day.) Ronald began telling me that Bolivians believe in Catholicism as well as paganism. For example, festivals such as ‘Carnaval’ are pagan festivals but they still celebrate the Catholic festivals that they do in Europe. In this way they integrate going to mass and Catholic ceremonies with earth worshipping rituals.We then looked around the shops and Ronald pointed out that they sell dehydrated, dead animals. Depending on your illness to get better you need to sacrifice a certain animal to the Gods by burning it. All Bolivians know which dehydrated animal they need to sacrifice ... read more