Blogs from La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 135

So we were in Copacabana this morning. It is a resort style town..smaller..but totally cute on lake titicaca. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the three of us had a blast. We arrived here in La Paz this evening!! I love the city--it is just amazing. We went and got some dinner when it suddenly started to hail...and i mean rocks of hail were falling. We did some shopping...i got a lot of great alpaca stuff--presents for everyone!!! We went to the presidential palace which was cool cause of all the political stuff that is going on here in Bolivia. Tomorrow we"re off to see some ruins that are 3000 years old so im stoked for that!! Again, thanks for the continuous cards and emails from everyone. I got to talk to some of you people ... read more

9/3 The bus wasnt cancelled. They changed the time but it still ran and being Bolivia as it was nearly full at 1815... they took off 15 minutes early while a family of four attempted to pile their belongings in the side and clamber on board. This was a continuiing theme throughout the entire journey. Certain groups in the country were demanding the resignation of the President but the Congress wouldnt let him, so there were road blocks throughout the country and some buses were unable to make it throught to destinations. I was travelling next to a very jolly local and woke up on the side of a mountain in a huge lines of buses and trucks with police patrolling everywhere. The bus took off again without half its passengers and they sprinted down the ... read more

Another day in La Paz, I took care of some administrative tasks (laundry, reservations for my upcoming trip to the Salar de Uyuni, wine) and took a day trip to the semi famous Moon Valley of La Paz. I took a micro (1.80Bs.) through the entire town to Mallasa (where the valle de la luna is located). The bus ride took me through a very rich looking district of La Paz and actually took almost an hour. La Paz is a lot bigger of a city than i had originally thought. Upon arrival at the valle I popped in my new Juanes CD (to those of you who don{t know who juanes is, you are losers) and rocked out while meandering through the paths in the valle. It is an odd sight. I didn{t have anyone ... read more

We were so excited to be heading for La Paz...the guidebook makes like theres tons of good outdoor activities around the city and lots of interesting museums and markets to visit in the city... Well, it´s definitely an interesting place...but after Todd spent the whole of our first day with altitude sickness...fever, and throwing up, we aren´t feeling so up for adventurous undertakings. So, there will be no bike ride down the World´s Most Dangerous Road, no long, bumpy, and for Todd, who gets the motion sickness, nausea inducing bus rides to beautiful little Andean towns, and no boat rides to jungle retreats (again, the dirty old motion sickness). But no worries! Sunday there was literally nothing going on in the city, because of municipal elections. We found just 2 restaurants open for dinner, and we ... read more

And so after my little whistlestop Peru side trip, back to Bolivia. After another uncomfortable overnight bus journey, this time back to La Paz, I embarked on a whirlwind of activities and tours with the idea of getting as much out of Bolivia in the shortest possible time... So with Rachael doing some charideee work in Cochabamba, and then visiting Sucre; I have been busy with climbing Bolivias 3rd highest mountain, Huyana Potosi. This is advertised in the backpacker agencies as a "non technical, easy 2 day hike to a 6000m peak". Well, this aint so.. climbing it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Our hike on day 1 to 5200m was hard work, but straight forward and uneventful. My guide and I had dinner at 5pm, then retired to bed for a ... read more