we´re going home tomorrow

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La Paz. In the future, whenever we need an expression for insanely busy, or madhouse, or cheap as chips, the first two words of this entry will do the job quite well. Friday is market day, just about everywhere around here, and the the little boarder town that acts as the immigation check point is no exception. There must have been 50 squillion people of all shapes and sizes buying and selling or walking or just standing around, and of course us gringos trying to get our passports stamped and get across the boarder. Once done though the first impression you get of Bolivia is a dirty and very bumpy back street that takes us nearly 5 minutes to travel 500 metres along. Contrasts - Bolivia.
We travelled through the country side, with Titikaka appearing and disappearing to our left for several hours, including an informative visit to an pre-Incan archealogical site.
We arrived in La Paz at about 5:00 pm. There isn´t another peak hour like this in the entire world, and we were in a 34 seater tour bus. Most of the streets here are about 4 m wide, and the bus uses about 2 1/2 of that.
We had dinner with Chris the tour leader and Mark our driver and turned in early (11 o´clock)
This morning we took a half day city sights tour so we could get a wider view of what La Paz is like. More contrasts. The new buildings in amongst the colonial ones. The sports cars on cobbled streets. And power and data lines strung haphazardly from pole to building to pole without any consideration for those who were there before them. Its a sparky´s nightmare!!
The trip to the moon valley was weird. A real moonscape caused by water eroding the soft soily rock.
We visited the Witches markets where they sell potions and charms to cure all ills, and things like lliama feoteses which bring good luck when buried under your new home. We had lunch and wandered through the endless streets of endless markets, soaking up the local atmosphere. ah, La Paz.
Oh, and as the title states, we leave for the airport at 8:00 am tomorrow to start our journey home.
Signing off from our South American adventure, and what an adventure it has been.
Dot & Lui

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Photos

Mayhem
Border crossing between Peru & Bolivia

rest time
In the plaza opposite the cathedral, La Paz

Comments

[Carmen Olson]

Hi from Calgary
Hi Dot and Lui: I've really enjoyed your blogging and now I know what you were up to all those times we would cross paths in the internet cafes. Sounds like La Paz was an interesting city, as were all the ones we visited in Peru. We got home to Canada on Sat. without a hitch, all (amazingly) of our flights and connections (bus rides etc.) were all on time. I was much relieved to be home and I enjoyed a long, hot and luxurious bath when we arrived in Calgary. Glenn has developed (already) his 60 rolls of film he took in Peru and there are some real beauts. We enjoyed meeting you both. Please check out Glenn's website and tell us what you think, www.glennolson.net. Perhaps soon there will be a Peru-inspired limited edition print up on the website. Glenn certainly has lots of material to do a painting of our trip. Cheers, Carmen