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Published: March 5th 2008
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Since I last blogged, I made it into La Paz after running around the City of Arica, Chile for the better part of a day trying to get everything together for my Bolivian Visa. The bus ride was just fine. Met some cool people to practice my spanish with and froze my ass off at customs. The scenery from the bus was outstanding so I wasn´t the slightest bit bored. Got into La Paz and now know that it is everything people say it is. What a nutso city! For me La Paz has been a super fast paced city, lots of honking and yelling, super cold nights, lots of rain, awful sanitary conditions (won´t go into too much detail, some of you may have a sensitive stomach), tons of culture, lots of babies but not a pregnant women in sight ( I know, really wierd, but have vetted this observation with other travelers and we all think it is a mystery), on the baby note, tons of babies on backs of their moms or grandmas all wrapped up in beautiful fabric and blankets, horrendous pedestrian conditions (seriously scary to cross the street), lots of great street food, children working, great
night life (no, didn´t go into any of the coke dens, not really my scene, plus I hear that they are totally fun of tourists anyway), people trying to shine your shoes and sell you everything from a phone call from their cell phones to Britney Spears albums at every turn, beautiful and friendly people, wonderful mountain landscapes surrounding the city and a good deal of polution.
Stayed at a great hostel and met some cool people to explore the city with. Even met a guy from SF and I work with his mom! What a small world!
Went to Lake Titicaca for a couple days and stayed on the Isla del Sol. It was so peaceful and serene. Defintely a needed break from the life in La Paz. I stayed in a very simple hostel in the Comunidad Yucumani. No hot water, donkeys carried what water we had to use up the mountain, no heat (and it was so cold! In like I wore three pairs of pants, a hat, cloves, a scarf and 5 layers on top to bed!), and limited electricity. The view out of my window made up for any lack of comforts that I am
used to. The island only began to be a tourist destination in the past 20 years, so it still felt fairly untouched. I wondered around the island for most of the days and a german volunteer who was staying at the hostel and I taught the owner of the hostel, Martin, and the woman who worked there, Yola, how to play "Spoons" and a game called "Shithead." I have never seen people laugh so hard while playing cards. It was a blast and nice to find something to do at night since there aren´t any lights outside or places to go so you are pretty much bound to the place that you are staying.
Back in La Paz now and have to stay for at least today since my backpack is still in Lake Titicaca in a town called Copacabana! For the first time, I left it out of my sight while getting a bite to eat. The woman at the bus station office had a heap of backpacks in the office that were going to be loaded into the bus I was going to take and since I had about 45 minutes before the bus was going to leave
Yola, Martin, Jan and I
Taking a break from playing cards at our small hostel on Isla del Sol and liked the idea of not taking my huge backpack with me to lunch, I left it in her hands with her promise to load it into the bus with the rest of the packs. Before the bus left, I stopped by the office to make sure that my pack was in the bus and she assured me that it was. About halfway through the busride a lady came up to me and told me that the lady "forgot" to put my pack in the bus. So, it is supposed to arrive tonight by 6pm. We will see. Luckily I was so cold when I left that I was wearing as many layers as I went to bed in and I have all of my important documents and credit cards, so I am nice and warm and not screwed but without clothing change (been wearing the same stuff for about 3 days....maybe 4😊 ) or any toiletries.
None of this really surprises me. I mean, I am in Bolivia and I have learned my lesson the hard way. I will say that I will be checking every inch of my backpack when I get it back as I have heard
Our bus on a boat
The ride from La Paz to Lake Titicaca involves fording the lake at one point. way too many stories of drug smuggling through travelers.
One more lesson I learned the hard way is that I just had a guy burn my pictures onto a cd and come to find that there are about 200 pictures missing from my memory card! So, I have picked out my favorites from what is left from the last week. I hope you enjoy.
Well, that is all for now. I am going to the bus station now to see about a bus ticket for tomorrow to a city a bit south of here called Sucre. Until next time.
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