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Published: August 11th 2008
I managed to convince myself that my impending rendezvous in Peru meant that I should not waste time unnecessarily, so the potential day of bus travel from Sucre to La Paz was replaced by a 45 minute flight. Most of the journey was over brown mountainous terrain with the occasional looping trail far below taking account of the gradients, and a few limpid blue-green alpine lakes stood out in the surrounding drab colouring.
As we neared La Paz, many of the mountains jutted high enough to show a snow line, including the giant overlooking the city itself - Mount Illimani at just over 6,400m - then suddenly, after few signs of habitation, the hillsides and the valley below were covered in buildings. I've never stumbled across a hidden civilisation but I would guess that doing so would have a similar sense of something appearing out of nothing. Further excellent views were to be had on the road heading into town from the airport, but as we entered the city itself we encountered simply traffic (seemingly 95% buses and taxis), narrow and overcrowded streets, and hordes of people. Once walking, I could add treacherous footing to the list of urban woes,
Stained glass colours
Iglesia Santo Domingodue to cobbles and a lack of pavement maintenance. The steep streets, at an altitude of 3,640m, made breathing difficult enough without the exhaust fumes that could be tasted in the air. All these factors helped ensure that crossing the road was a life-threatening experience.
La Paz was also an order of magnitude more expensive for accommodation, and the surprising number of tourists in the city became a surprisingly annoying number of tourists in the city when I had to change rooms twice due to bookings already having been made for my chosen accommodation, including a hostel where I had to wear an identifying paper bracelet like a hospital in-patient. My conviction that there were too many visitors to the city was further reinforced when a Japanese restaurant that I visited on a Tuesday night, far from the main tourist part of La Paz, turned me away as their tables were already full of
extranjeros.
The city possessed much more racial variety than I'd seen in other parts of Bolivia, with the overwhelmingly indigenous flavour outside of the capital being diluted by people from European stock. That said, there were still many colourfully-clad Amerindians to be seen, the
Police force
Plaza Murillo bowler hats, plaited pigtails, and long skirts of the women a familiar sight from the last 2 weeks. The latter item of clothing in particular seems to be most useful as a cover, given the relaxed attitude to public urination that I've noticed in the country.
Plaza de Murillo was one of my spots for watching the world go by, its demographic covering everything from an enormous pigeon population, to police with riot shields and tear gas launchers, to legions of shoe-shine guys wearing balaclavas, to suit-clad civil servants taking a break from their offices in the surrounding buildings. Like many places in South America, the populace of La Paz was not slow to take to the streets at the drop of a hat if there was a cause to be supported, and in my brief stay in the city I saw demonstrations and sit-down protests, and the sound of fire crackers was a regular occurrence.
La Paz has a variety of markets that are ripe for idle browsing, with the Witches' Market possibly the most compelling for foreigners. It wasn't quite the mysterious and arcane experience that I'd been expecting from the hype, with wannabe Viagra competitors
outnumbering the llama foetuses and lucky charms from Aymara witchcraft.
I also visited the Museo de Coca, a small exhibition packed with information. Though coca may be inextricably linked in many Westerners' minds with cocaine, the coca leaf itself is a much more interesting stimulant that was used in all pre-Columbian societies and is still extremely popular today. It enables the more efficient uptake of oxygen into the blood, meaning it is useful in combating altitude sickness, and provides an increased tolerance for work. It was banned for a short while by the Spanish because of objections by the Church, but when it became apparent that it had a large effect on the productivity of the enslaved indigenous people, those objections were dropped. The miners in Potosi today are estimated to spend 8% of their salary on coca leaves.
Cocaine itself was not synthesised until the middle of the 19th century and was first used as an anaesthetic. It was included in Coca Cola until until the early 1900s, and was taken on Antarctic expeditions by both Shackleton and Scott. Its addictive properties were recognised at around this time, and the 20th century saw an escalating battle between
countries affected by addictive consumption (most prominently the US, consumer of half the world's cocaine) and coca producing countries such as Bolivia. I was amused to find that an anti-cocaine drive in Bolivia had been called "Coca Zero", sharing the name with one of my favourite drinks.
I made one side-trip from La Paz, to the abandoned site of Tiwanaku, home of a civilisation that had held sway over the region for half a millenium before the Incas. The site itself was a massive disappointment. What had been large stepped pyramids were now mainly mounds of earth with a few stones here and there. Even some of the standing walls had been reconstructed by archaeologists unfamiliar with the building methods of the period. The couple of museums on the site may have held useful information but the tour guide rushed us through quickly, brooking no loitering. My background reading had indicated that there was some interesting history to the area, but I had little sense of that on my tour.
Sadly, La Paz was also my final stop in Bolivia, meaning that I'd spent only 2 weeks in the country whereas it warranted longer, however I needed to
Bolivian crest
Palacio Presidencial, Plaza Murillo be in Cusco in Peru by 9:45AM on 29th July for a much anticipated event - a reunion with LA Woman.
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