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Published: February 8th 2008
La Paz {meaning Peace} has been anything but peaceful. Set in a bowl in the mountains at 3660m La Paz literally takes your breath away as you arrive. Houses ride all the way up the sides of the surrounding mountains as far as the eye can see.
Ironically, I too have basically been set in a bowl for the past 10 days (we're now in Peru). The bathroom in La Paz hasn't quite lived up to expectations which is a shame given I have been visiting it about 30 times a day on average. Sheena has been the perfect Florence Nightingale however bringing back to the room all sorts of delights only for me to show my gratitude by seeing them away 15 minutes after consuming!
The first trip out into the La Paz streets was no disappointment however. Within 100 yards we encountered our first protest with police in full riot gear and locals shouting all sorts of abuse. Wiping our eyes due to what we think was residual pepper spray in the air, I thought I'd get a few snaps. Within seconds one of the riot police came over and politely told me to put my camera
The obligatory La Paz Protest
Just managed to sneak a shot before being told to put the camera away!back in the bag!
The markets in La Paz are so interesting. You have to be a little careful with belongings and having a camera on show but it's impossible to resist. Furry armidillo shells, cows heads and the odd llama walking around. Then la pièce de la résistance, wicker baskets filled with llama foetuses - the locals buy them and then bury them under their houses for good luck.
Fed up with seeing 4 walls of a bathroom we decided it was time to move on and head for some sun. Where better than the island where the sun was born (according to Inca Mythology) - La Isla del Sol. Armed with a packet of immodium we jumped on a 6 hour bus ride to Copacabana - our entry to Lake Titicaca and the island of the sun.
Set in the middle of Lago Titicaca (about 2hr boat ride) - an enormous lake set between Bolivia and Peru - the Isla del Sol houses a small population and is still very much a traditional rural pueblo. To get to the island we took a boat from Copacabana on the Bolvian mainland. As you approach the island
the sights are impressive with the lake framed 360 degrees with mountains and the steep slopes of the island terraced to allow for more land to be farmed.
The walk from the dock to our hostel wasn't so pleasant. Loaded with all our kit we had to walk up Las Escaleras de las Incas - a near vertical set of steps going up about 100m. With the altitude, the steepness and the kit on our backs we felt like our lungs would explode! The prize at the end was perfect. A room in a hostel with a 180 degree panoramic view over the lake.
The next day we walked the length of the island - about7 hr round trip - across the ridge where we could see the mountains of both Peru (our next stop) and Bolivia. The view really was stunning and a nice change from the bathroom walls of La Paz. It is a little worrying now however that when we see a woman in a bowler hat walking a llama and a donkey in her back garden we just think that's normal!
La Isla del Sol would be our last stop in Bolivia. It
is with some regret that we haven’t been able to travel through Bolivia as vigorously as we would have liked but we can say that Bolivia is home to some of the most stunning scenery that we have ever seen and a country that is just poised to grow rapidly as it realises the tourism potential and it begins to fully leverage it’s huge mineral wealth.
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