South America Day 24

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5th February

The day started by being woke by the ladies setting up shop on the streets below our hotel at 6am soon followed by the beeping horns of the 100's of taxis. La Paz is not a city which rests easily.

Today we had down as a rest day as we would be heading off for our week in the Amazon the next day.

So we spent a day around the markets & bustle of the city. We soon realised that walking around this city with its streets snaking up the side of the canyon was not going to be easy. Every step was a real effort & the lack of oxygen plus the exersion caused us to have banging headaches by the end of the afternoon.

The markets & shops were great but all selling virtually the same things! A mix of knitted swetters, hats & socks in bright colours to local art & crafts. Again we had to be quite restrained as we still have 3 weeks to carry everything we have with us.

After lunch we headed into the 'Black Market' which was reputed to be the place to buy cheep electricals, cameras etc. I wanted to look at larger lenses for my camera after having a go with somebody elses for my Flamingo shots a couple of days earlier. It turned out that the black market in one of the poorest countries in the world was infact more expensive than at home!

Dinner was to be from the street vendors as this is a really cheep way to eat so cutting costs where we can. Also the street food can offer a wider variety than in the restaurants allowing you to pick small dishes from each vendor.

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