La Paz and new friends....

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On arrival in La Paz we jumped into a taxi and headed to a hostel that we had been recommended and thought we had a reservation at however.... four hostels and a taxi ride later we were able to check into a hostel recommended by a random traveller in another hostel. This bad luck actually turned into some of the best luck possible. We arrived at the hostel in time for breakfast and as we wandered into the kitchen we bumped into an Australian girl we had seen and talked to in both Mendoza and Salta and it transpired we were sharing the dorm with her and her cousin. After eating lots of pancakes I went to lie down and ended up chatting to the guy in the next bunk for nearly 5 hours, Dave is from Essex but now lives in Northampton. That night we went for a drink in the hostel bar and we eventually exchanged names names with the two Australians, Kate and Scott.

We all exchanged our travel stories and it transpired that we were all heading to Rurrenbaque to do the Pampas tour however the others were also considering doing a Jungle tour. Dave was leaving the next day however Scott and Kate weren't due to leave until Tuesday.

Monday morning we got up and chilled around the hostel and then we wandered into the centre of La Paz and we booked our flights for the next morning to Rurrenbaque. After buying my Bolivian postcards and stamps we happened to walk past an English bar showing the tennis and since Andy Murray was playing we called in for a drink and had some good old fashioned English junk food..... Andy Murray wasn't looking too good and I wanted to walk through the witches market so I left Sharon behind and went wandering. I bought some presents and since my backpack was starting to overflow with bits so a second trip to the post office was in order and a 900g package was sent home at a cost of £15 (just about the cost of all the contents inside!!!!).

The night was another chilled one in the hostel with an early night to bed as we had an early wake up call to get our flight with Scott and Kate and meeting up with Dave.

As an aside you will be pleased to hear that I started to fell a bit more like normal in La Paz although the altitude was still having a big effect however this is an effect on everyone not just me. La Paz is over 3000m so when you walk up a set of stairs you get to the top and you are breathing so fast and heavy it is like you ran up four flights and not staggered up 10 steps!! What didn´t help was that our rooms in the hostel were on the second loor and the bar in the hostel was up the road in an annex and on the fourth floor - you always deserved the drink you got when you got there!!

Next stop Rurrenbaque and the pampas.......

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