Bolivia - La Paz

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David here...

The journey from Coroico to La Paz took a couple of hours, but unlike the journey there it was misty and rainy so we couldn't see much of the view. We arrived back at Terminal Provisional Minas in Villa Fatima and decided not to jump into the first taxi, but to see what mini-vans passed by. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes a van pulled up with San Francisco listed on the front. We hopped in and after 30 minutes or so we were outside of Iglesia de San Francisco. The journey cost us 4Bs in total (50p), a good saving over a taxi.

We were staying up the hill behind the Iglesia at Hotel Saganarga, right in the heart of the centre of the city. The hotel lobby was modern but the room was a little tired and old fashioned. Still, it was fine for one night. After relaxing we walked around the centre taking in many of the sights, as you can see from the pictures. The thing with La Paz is that it is incredibly hilly and is at high altitude, so walking really takes it out of you. We stopped off at another branch of Alexanders Coffee for a drink and a slice of cake to share before making our way back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out for food that night.

We had picked out India Gate for food as it was just round the corner from our hotel and had good reviews. It was alright, not as good as the Indian meal in Arequipa but nice enough. We are looking forward to getting some decent Indian food when we get home from one of our local places. We then wandered round looking for a nice place to drink. The places we looked up in advance we all shut or gone for good. We did try a faux English pub but left without having a drink as they had no draft beer and the bottles were all too expensive.

The next morning Suzanne woke up feeling a little ill but we didn't have many plans for the day as we were moving to another hotel in Zona Sur, our 4th different hotel in the 3 stops we had in La Paz. Before check-out time we walked the short distance to the Contemporary Art Gallery only to find it closed. We asked a man what time it would be open and he indicated that it had gone for good. Sure enough, when we passed it again later there was a poster for a nail salon on the gate.

As we wandered back to the hotel we noticed lots of mini-vans with the location we wanted to go to later, Los Pinos. So after checking out, feeling emboldened by our previous success with mini-vans we waited nearby to Iglesia de San Francisco and jumped into an empty mini-van with Los Pinos on the front. It took about an hour to get to the Zona Sur area but we jumped out of the van a few minutes walk away from our next hotel, the Bolivian Rooms and Suites. We checked in and were shown to a big, clean, tidy room with a kitchen area, seating area and a massive bathroom. We were very happy with the room!

Suzanne was still not feeling great, not sure if it was a bug, altitude related or something she ate, however it did mean that the afternoon was spent in the room, relaxing and catching up with stuff. We did pop out to a nearby supermarket for some supplies and beer and wine for the evening, even though you're not supposed to drink alcohol in our room. We decided to get takeaway pizza from Pizza Planet nearby and stay in for the evening, listening to music. Pizza was alright, no tomato sauce on it though, which is the norm in Bolivia and Peru. Suzanne had to go to bed early due to feeling ill so I ended up with the majority of the wine.

The next day, Suzanne was still not well, making our plans to walk into the mountains a non-starter. So we decided to just ride the Mi Telerifico system nearby to our room. The Mi Terifico system, or My Cablecar, is a set of 4 cable car lines designed to link La Paz to the nearby city of El Alto, over 1,000 metres above it. Before the system was built, commuter journeys were a long, hard slog in terrible traffic. A cable car system was first mooted in the 1970's and was finally built and live in 2014. There are now 4 lines with a further 5 being built or at the planning stage.

We rode from the first stop on the Green line all the way to the end and then from there, along the full length of the Yellow line, up to El Alto. Each leg costs 3Bs each, so a total of 24Bs (£3) for both of us to go there and back again, making this the longest cable car ride we've ever been on (45 mins each way) but also the cheapest. You've got to give the local government credit here, firstly for following up on the suggestion and secondly for implementing it so fully, as it is a huge success. It has cut down commuter times by a substantial margin and is now a big tourist draw too, as the views of the city and the surrounding mountains are amazing. It is a stunning feat of engineering and the city should be rightly proud of implementing such an innovative idea to help with commuter transport. It is a clean, professionally run system which we loved travelling along, such a wonderful way to move about the city.

The afternoon was spent back in the room as Suzanne was still not right and as it was a lovely room we enjoyed relaxing in. We opted to stay in for the evening as well as we had an early start the next day so we popped a few doors up to a local supermarket to buy something for my evening meal. Suzanne had leftover pizza so I was hoping to get some kind of ready meal that I could heat in the microwave in the room. The supermarket had nothing at all but did have a sandwich stall outside so I ended up with a pork sandwich and a chicken sandwich, both of which were very tasty. The evening was made up of more relaxing, reading and a few beers for me.

We were woken by the alarm at 06:00 and were on our way to the airport by 06:30. Our taxi driver must've thought he was Marco Bulacia, the Bolivian rally driver, as it only took him 30 minutes to complete the 45 minute drive to the airport. We arrived stupidly early for our 09:20 flight, but it made sure we were sitting together. I had breakfast of a bacon, egg and cheese croissant and a coffee from the Alexanders at the airport before we went through to the gates. Our flight departed a few minutes late, but we were soon on our way to our next destination, flying over the mountains that surround La Paz.

We had been to La Paz 3 times overall and even though there was not loads to do, it was a city that we actually enjoyed very much. Especially the Telerifico which is a wonderful way to traverse the city, and to see the scenery surrounding the place, which is breathtaking.

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