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Typical La Paz scene
The local women had me fascinated First of all the flight between Sucre and La Paz was an event in itself. It was either a 16 hour overnight bus (warnings of how buses ´fall off the edge of mountains´, especially at night, plus the experience of constant vibrating between Uyuni to Sucre had me convinced it would be 16 hrs of hell), or a 45 minute flight. 45 minutes won. The plane took off and literally just skimmed the top of the alti plano. It really was not very far from the mountains and you could see everything so clearly. I then understood why it would take such a long journey by bus. This part of Bolivia is just one mountain after another with the roads zig zagging up and down each one.
In La Paz the airpot is 500m above La Paz itself which is nestled in a valley. The airport is at 4000 m and then you get whizzed down the side of the valley at high speed to the centre. I was travelling with 3 others which was good news as we soon discovered that accomodations were not quite up to the standards we backpackers were used to! I got lucky and got to guard the bags while two set off in search of accomodation. It did not take us long to figure out that in La Paz there is a Gringo Alley. Only problem is that it is a steep hill and in addition to the altitude it is a killer! Oh well for 5 euros a night I got my own en suite bathroom on the sunny side so my room got naturally heated each day which was a good thing as once again there is not heating in the rooms and at night it goes below freezing.
You can´t complain in La Paz though! First of all everything is so cheap. The first night we treated ourselves to a three course Bolivian mean for all of 2 euros!
La Paz itself has an amazing buzz. It is just overflowing with little stands and everyone but everyone is selling something. As someone described it to me before I got there - La Paz is one huge market and so it is....
It did mean that I went a bit mad on the shopping and had to send a box of goodies home. Sending the box home itself was an experience. You have to go to the central post office where a huge group of gringos are all trying to do the same as you. You have to go to the narcotics office first and get everything inspected so they can ensure you are not trying to smuggle coca leaves or anything stronger. You then have to pay for this lady to seal up your box. This took forever but gave me a chance to have a good old nose as to what the Bolivians themselves were sending off. Lots of food packages of this bizarre puffed wheat they love to munch on here, hot peppers and other food substances. There was I thinking that they were sending these parcels off to poor relatives in the countryside when in actual fact all the boxes were being sent to relatives in USA!
After your sealing session it is off to customs where they give you forms to fill in, stamps have to be administered and then the box weighed 3 times before they can tell you how much it is going to cost to send home. A pittance is the cost and off go my goodies....
From La Paz it was possible to do a trip to Tiwanaku - the oldest site in Bolivia and pre-Inca - the Incas where one of the groups which originated from Tiwanaku. What impressed me most was it is in actual fact still an archaelogical site. So while you are being hustled along to the different parts of the site and through the museum you have people in hard hats busy digging around you. Worth a visit but I somehow felt this was just a taster of what I was going to see over the border in Peru.
Also went on a city tour. A bit touristy but hey that is what I am! If for nothing else they gave some fascinating facts on the tour - the average Bolivian woman will have 5 children. 42% of the population is under the age of 14. The life expectancy for men is 60, women 64 and the official retirement age is 65. The bowler hats which women wear here (and had me totally fascinated as they sit right on top of their heads) was introduced by an englishman. The hats were too small for the men so he told the women that these hats were the latest in women´s fashion in Europe and they have been wearing them ever since.
La Paz also had a little Coca Museum which was well worth a visit. Unfortunately I was a little under the weather as had some fruit juice made with tap (not mineral) water which was enough to have my stomach cramping like mad. However I can now certify that Coca cola still uses coca leaves for flavouring purposes. Also Sigmund Freud was one of the first known cocaine users and that he dies of nasal cancer as a consequence. Gives an insight to some of his theories if you ask me. They were also able to have miners working days of 48 hours at a time by providing them with coca leaves and it was considered more valuable than gold. All I can say they are constantly chewing on it over here....
And so a couple of lively days in La Paz were over with and time to move closer to Peru.
More photos at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/foodiefloozie/my_photos
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