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So were still having fun in La Paz, hanging out and sleeping in. The fruit loop has sadly left us, he's off to Colombia next to take part in some crazy indigeounous rituals so good luck to him! He's been replaced by a Fifer! We met him on the Inca Trail and I cant remeber his name but he's from Cupar and seems very nice, although I'm not sure if he'll make our beds and buy us flowers!
I think I've exhausted all the markets because I keep recognising the stallholders and remembering that I had previously told them I didn't have much money so I could get things cheaper! (a good trick the locals use) Another trick is to have just a little bit of change in your pocket and offer that amount, they say "No" so you show them the money and they always agree! Magic! Although, you have to have small change in the first place, which in La Paz is a really difficult thing to come across. The ATM only gives out 100 boliviano notes and nobody ever has change, EVER!
Also if you manage to haggle them down to say, 20 bolivianos for a
scarf and then give them a 100 note they always change their mind and try to get another 5 or even 10 bolivianos out of you! When you say no they always put on a really wingey voice (even wingeyer than I could possible be) then they pout their lips, screw up their eyes, tip their head back and say "oh seniorita, por favour, no tengo cambio" "Oh miss, please, i dont have change." At first it was quite funny because they are so wingey and whiney its like they're a small whingey child who wants ice cream. However, now its starting to grate on me. Its also beginning to really annoy laura so we have decided to simply start winging back! Its worse when you ask the price of something and they tell you a ridiculously inflated price so you so "oh no! es muy carro!" (Oh no, its very expensive) and then offer a slightly lower (but still overpriced) amount and they do the wingey face and then the famous line "oh seniorita, por favour.......blah blah blah" It's really quite irritating, if I was able to film it (with my snazzy new camera) I would and then post
it here but I doubt they would agree to it, or they'ed ask a ridiculous price!
The trick I usually use is to ask the price and then immediately put it down saying its too expensive and then go to walk out and they always run after you with a lower price. The other day a guy wanted US$100 for a tablecloth that was 100 bolivianos in another store (about US$12) So I did my trick of putting it down immediately and he halved his price (still too much) and then laid it out on the floor for me to see while explaining how it's handmade and alot of work and time goes into it. (it was gorgeous) However his 3 year old son (everyone always has their kids with them at work) immediately jumped onto it and started rolling himself up in it! So I laughed and walked out while the guy tried to untangle his son! The next thing is he's running down the street after me, with his son in tow, holding the tablecloth up and shouting lower and lower prices but it had shoe prints all over it so I politely declined and dived into
another shop before he could pester me any more!
When I was at the Witches market they had loads of crazy scary creepy stuff like llama foetuses and stuffed baby leopards and dead condors so I asked to take a photo of one of the stalls and the woman said I had to buy something first, which is fair enough but the prices she was quoting for stuff was three times the amount I'd paid for the same stuff earlier that day! Sometimes they can be real chancers, just like in Copacabana. Sometimes if i think their really taking the piss I ask them if part of the price is a "white tax" "impuesto blanco" since they always charge us at least twice what theyed charge a local, but ive mentioned that before.
Anyway, enough whinging, I must be off, I'm finally going mountain biking tomorrow on "The Death Road." EEEEKKKKKK! Apparently its the worlds most dangerous road, but it's one of those things you have to do when your in La Paz and we've been saying were going to do it all week and we've only just got round to it now! I'm pretty nervous about it
because so many people have said it's really dangerous and scary and quite easy to fall off the cliff-edge which im not too happy about, but hay hoe i'm sure it'll be fine! wish me luck!
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