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Take my breath away....literally Finally on the road again and after the smelliest 17 hour bus journey ever from Santa Cruz, we arrived in La Paz to be greeted by a fantastic view of the snow capped Andes. Unbelievable view of the city as the bus made it's way down through the hillsides, crammed with houses up as far as the eye could see.
Treated ourselves to 5 days of luxury in the Monte Carlo Hotel. Had hot showers for the first time in 3 weeks and one of those modern devices that allows you to play your own music...I think they call it a docking station! Breafast was included in the price but was, to be honest, poor! (child friendly rating)
It takes some getting used to this high altititude so did the sensible thing and spent most of the first day chilling in bed.
Day 2 - exploring La Paz Did a bit of exploring today and had the biggest fruit juice ever...had our 5 a day in one hit! Managed to swap one of our books and even better after a gruelling trek to the stadium, we got tickets for our first ever
World Cup qualifier game between Bolivia and Paraguay (Mr P was a bit giddy!!) Bumped into the very lovely and very funny Mr Phil Jupitus on the high street (like you do) mithered him for a piccy (like you do)
As the sun went down, we visted Plaza Murillo, the guards were just in the process of taking down the flags - it appeared to be a very ceremonial daily event and Big Nick got shouted at for moving!! A really cool Plaza surrounded by the government buildings and a stunning cathedral and of course, the obligatory pigeons!
Day 3 - being "tourists" well, trying our best! Had a lie in watching Murray losing his tennis match then off to do the museums etc etc. Unfortunately, the Police had other ideas and had blocked off all the roads around the government buildings, we later found out that there were yet more demonstrations by the "campesinos". This also meant that most of the city closed early! We did, however, visit the Bolivian Museum of Musical Instruments - it was a lot more exciting than it sounds, especially for music lovers like us! The museum had some beautiful displays
of charangoes (small guitars), panpipes, drums, whistles to name but a few and a lot of them were really old and in mint condition. We also got to have a "play" on some drums, piano, accordian, bottles and bells and Nick's favorito was the Palo de lluvioso from Brazil - basically a hollowed out wooden pole containing something that sounded exactly like falling rain when it was tipped up.
Day 4 - Tiwanaku Two hours North of La Paz are the archaelogical ruins of Tiwanaku, a pre-Inca settlement of various temples and pyramids which contained some fantastic monoliths and artefacts. We had a beautiful day with bright blue sky and massive white clouds and this certainly added to the dramatic effect. We loved every minute of being out of the city for the first time in 2 months. This place feels so special and we feel very privileged to have visited.
As it was Friday night, and you have to have a beer on Friday night, we visited our local "pub" and it was definitely a local place for local people! (Think 1960's working mens club as in the film "Kes"). Had a couple of beers (hmmm
and the rest - KP) and attracted a couple of chatty local amigos.
Day 5 - South American Futbol Tour part 8 Bolivia 3 Paraguay 1
CONCAF World Cup Qualifier
Estadio Ernesto Stiles
After losing 4 out of their previous 5 matches and having little or no chance of qualification, the game failed to capture the imagination of the Bolivian public. With only one third of the stadium filled. Still, it was a World Cup qualifier and was an event in itself. Outside the stadium there was a real vibe with merchandise stalls, giant inflatables and excited fans. Paraguay made the effort and being neighbours brought around 1,000 fans, some of them showing rather more cleavage than expected (added bonus - NP)
The game was decent enough, we had seats right on the half way line. Not a lot else to say to be honest!!!
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