Living it up in La Paz

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Five star hotel? Luxury spa, (real) french champagne and a jacuzzi bath? What happened to roughing it? We've taken 'flashpacking' to a whole new level..... for one night only. More on that in a minute.

My prior grumbles about Bolivia still stand but I'm warming to the place. We've spent about 4 days in La Paz and I must say I like it. I mean, its not Paris, Rome or Bristol(!) but its a nice place to spend a few days. On the down side, there is enough pollution to make a hardened environmentalist cry. But there are plenty of pretty colonial buildings and, with oxygen mask firmly in place, it is a city that is best enjoyed simply wandering around. There are lots of interesting (and horrendously cheap) markets and streets to stroll through and, with one main road, its very difficult to get lost.

Our first 3 nights were spent at a large central hostel. It was good fun; there was an on-site microbrewery with a bar on the roof. We caught up with some people we had met in Arequipa and generally had a good time. The beds were a bit small and our room was on a main road so it wasn't exactly a place to chill out, but it could have been worse.

Our second day in town was All Soul's Day, a major holiday in La Paz. Most of the place was shut up for the day so we took a bus tour of the city and the surrounding area. It was an afternoon well spent and showed us some of the different aspects of the city. We travelled out to the posh end of town which was filled with mansions of all shapes and sizes. It is like Beverly Hills stuck in the middle of the Grand Canyon. There are certainly a few people doing alright for themselves here (I suspect mainly drug dealers and dodgy politicians). We also travelled up the hillside to a look out point giving great views of the giant saucer that is La Paz.

As I've probably mentioned, La Paz is at about 4000m above sea level. At this altitude, water apparently boils at 85 degrees celsius. I haven't noticed a corresponding reduction in the amount of time it takes to make a coffee but there you go. In 2001 Bolivia pulled off one of its greatest football achievements by spanking the mighty Brazil in a world cup qualifier at the La Paz Olympic Stadium. Well, how dare they? FIFA, always one to back the underdog, responded by promptly banning countries from hosting games above 3500 masl. Well, they wouldn't want one of the big teams missing out the world cup, would they?

Considering La Paz is a capital city, I was surpised to note that the locals tend to retain their traditional dress, particularly the ladies. They wear brightly coloured shawls and what look like bowler hats. Well, in fact they are bowler hats. In the late 19th century, an English hatter, struggling to offload large quantities of bowler hats to the local men struck upon a cunning ruse. He advertised the hats as the latest thing in ladies' fashion in Europe. The hats sold like the proverbial hotcakes and have remained an essential accessory to this day.

La Paz is the political capital (although not the constitutional capital) and has therefore seen its fair share of the country's political upheaval. Since its independence (i.e., the Spanish had taken everything they wanted) in 1825 there have been nearly 200 coups and counter-coups. They have averaged over one president a year since independence. At one time, three different people claimed power. Things have settled down recently but you can still see remnants of the troubled past. A stroll around the main square reveals numerous bullet holes in the presidential palace and surrounding buildings. On top of political unrest, Bolivia seem to have made a habit of losing wars to their neighbours resulting in quite severe territorial loss. They lost their coastal access to Chile so no more beach holidays for the Bolivians. All in all, you can't help but feel a bit sorry for them.

As a little treat to ouselves for slumming it for a month, we booked ourselves into a plush, five star hotel for one night in the aforementioned posh end of town. We were a bit nervous during the taxi ride as we thought we may have built the place up a little bit. In fact, it exceeded every expectation. Our room (modestly marketed as a Junior Suite) was huge. When I say huge, I mean there was an enormous bed, dinging room table and lounge area. The bathroom contained a shower you could sit down in and the aforementioned jacuzzi bath. There was also (quite unnecessarily) a separate wash room. We were greeted with a platter of fruit and champagne, which we enjoyed in the complementary dressing gowns. Going back to hostels is not going to be fun....

We went all out at the hotel. We had a massage, used the swimming pool/sauna facilities and ate tons of rich food. I had a giant steak for tea which came with possibly the best black pudding I've ever tasted. I did not expect to get that in Bolivia! The service was excellent; when I asked for the wine list the waiter brought over a trolley of bottles to select from and when my food arrived he even tied a bib around my neck. Strange but true. I would like to say a quick thank you to Soph's Uncle Sandy who paid for us to have such a wonderful day. To everyone else who are a bit cheesed off at our night of utter decadence: don't worry, we are crashing back to earth with a bang.... tonight will be spent on an overnight bus to Uyuni. I'll probably wish I'd saved that massage for tomorrow.

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