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Published: September 13th 2012
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It's been a while since I last blogged and I blame road weariness for my malaise. Traveling is hardly routine, for there is the constant need to plan. Bus tickets need to be purchased, hostels contacted, food located, destinations decided, clothes washed, crooks avoided, traffic dodged, companion cajoled, money converted and bathrooms found. Wow, and then throw in a bout of diarrhea and you every excuse not to blog. That's where we found ourselves as we arrived in La Paz, the highest capital in the world at over 12,000 feet. Luckily for our lungs, our bus dropped us off a block away from our hotel Cruz de Los Andes, a nice clean bargain of a place for $26 a night that included a full breakfast. Check in was smooth, so we stashed our stuff and ventured out and about.
La Paz is a fun city to explore on your own. Walk down almost any street and you find yourself amongst stalls and street vendors selling practically every item under the brilliant sun. Hungry locals are everywhere enjoying cheap meals prepared on dirty curbs by indigenous cooks. Nearby our hotel we wondered into the Witches Market, where one can
buy llama fetuses, spirit money, strange potions and idols in order to improve ones luck or good fortune. Other nearby stores offer knockoff North Face, Colombia, REI and other recognizable winter wear. Adding to the street fair flavor, are constant noisy parades complete with brassy bands, bare legs and swinging hips. If after all the walking your shoes are scuffed, its easy to find ski masked shoe shiners on every corner. I'm baffled as to why there never reveal their faces, maybe masked to avoid identity due to their lowly status. And if the shoe shiners are a reminder of La Paz's labor struggles and poverty, Che Guevara's image and words plastered throughout town lets know one forget that Latin America's revolutionary hero still fights imperialism and poverty from the grave.
But by the end of the day, I was fighting my own struggles with gut sounding alarms of attack from guerrilla like food born invading forces. Maybe it was the street hot dog smeared with a dubious pink ketchup or suspicious yellow mayonnaise. By the end of the day you've eaten such a variety of food stuffs its impossible to lay blame on just one culprit.
Contamination is hidden everywhere. Regardless, my stomach forced my retreat to the hotel and head. There was no respite from gastrointestinal explosions throughout the night. Medicine seemed ineffective, rest or sleep was impossible, so I just accepted my stomach wrath which every traveler typically endures one time or another. Except for Amei. What the hell, why am I suffering and she sits there smugly smiling and entertained at my expense. After five months of travel, I'm dealing with a second bout of severe diarrhea and she's been completely free of any travelers maladies. I'll figure her immunity and my debilitating discharges out as soon as I'm, well, freed from my toilet ring of detention. Next stop Sucre.
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kathlyn
non-member comment
Diarrhea
I'm sorry you're sick. Yuk. Think of it as building up your immune system!!! Amei is Chinese, her gut is hardened!!! I hope you feel better. I love your blogs!!! Stay well. Why don't you take a month off from travel and stay in one place for a while. You can rest up and plan for a while. Find a place that deserves a longer stay, and hang out for a while. You'll get some much needed rest!!!