Dispatches; La Paz

---

So far, in La Paz, I've not been doing much. As it's not clear how long I'll be here, we'll see how it goes. Not just on my part, but on the part of my new employer. It may well go that I'm unsuitable, or whatever. But at the moment there's no rush on getting stuck in to exploring every single thing at the one time. I'd rather let things unfold, watch, and listen to what's going on, and find my way in that manner.

The altitude doesn't seem to have had too bad an effect on me, except that any form of strenuous effort results in a brief period of breathlesness. La Paz is situated 13,000ft or nearly 4000m above sea level; almost half the height of Everest. There is 40% less oxygen in the air here than in Dublin. The percentage of oxygen to other gasses in the atmosphere, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, remains the same. Just there's a lot less of it.
La Paz is situated in a valley created by the Choqueyapu river and to the west, the satellite town of El Alto where the airport is, is the Altiplano. La Paz is surrounded pretty much by sharp Andean peaks, the most prominent in the region being Mount Illimani; a three ridged peak topped with snow year round. About an hour to the west is the 9th tallest mountain in the Andes, the Sajama Volcano.

For the moment I'm staying in Osgur and Siobhan's apartment in the Miraflores district of the city. They live on the sixth of eleven floors of a high rise block that overlooks the national sports stadium, which I can imagine would be quite a show on sports days. In fact, legendary rock band The Doors will play there in March, minus Jim of course. But still, it should be a good night out. It'll be interesting to see how Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore cope with the thin air. I'd say they'll be drinking plenty of coca tea in prep. I've no idea who is stepping into Jim's shoes.

Yesterday was my first shift in the bar, and all went well pretty much. The till balanced at the end of the shift, but only after a recount, as myself and the relieving girl, Fallon, had a bit of trouble with our adding. I was pleased with that, as it was the afternoon shift and not overly busy; lots of snacks and small beer for the gradually waking guests who like to burn the candle at both ends. The Arsenal v Leeds game was on the TV too so that kept a lot of the gentlemen occupied.
My next shift, I think, is on Sunday night from 7.30 till 1.30. That'll be a busy one, which I don't mind as I'd much prefer to hit the ground running.
The main guys here are all good peoples; Nolly from London I think, runs the entertainment. Cameron from New Zealand is the bar manager. Alen from Slovenia (I hope!) is a good chap, fluent in languages like C3PO, and he's one of the gaffers. Richard generally works on reception, and runs the comings and goings of the guests. There's lots of other guys and girls passing through who work to pay for their accomodation, generally in the bar or on reception, so there's a huge turnover of temporary staff.
As I've mentioned already, the hostel is located on a hilly strett in the centre of La Paz. Directly facing the hostel is the main police station for the district and is patrolled outside contantly by sub-machine gun armed personnel. Over the new year there were massive riots here in La Paz when, once popular president Morales, tried to hike the price of fuel up by around 80%. The place went apeshit; riots, tear gas, fires, general mayhem, and in the ned he backed down. The situation still remains a little tense, but as I've been told something generally upsets the populace every so often that results in deployment of the riot police, only the last one was that little bit more serious.

So, for now, I'll leave it at that. From La Paz, where the kettle boils at 87 degrees; Adios.

---