Blogs from La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 5

We have to admit, we were a little unsure about visiting Bolivia... It isn't a country known for its luxuries (carrying ones own toilet paper everywhere is a must!) and having heard horror stories of friends being robbed there, we were definitely more than a little apprehensive. We didn't get off to a great start - with a 5 hour delay at the border crossing from Chile. But once we got going, Bolivia completely blew us away! We spent our first few days in Bolivia on a salt flats tour. Starting in San Pedro in Chile, we drove up through south Bolivia over 3 days stopping regularly to marvel at the various volcanoes, lagoons and beautiful landscapes we were passing en route. Our tour finished at Salar de Uyuni - the world's largest salt flat (the ... read more

GÜN 20 21 ŞUBAT ÇARŞAMBA: Sabah, uykumu almış bir durumda, 04:00 te uyandım. Bu sabah uçağım erken…. o nedenle erkenden alana gitmem gerek.. Gece saat 01.00 de gökler yarıldı .. Yıldırımlar falan…. herhalde çok yüksekte olduğumuzdan dolayı yıldırımlar hemencecik iniyor… fazla zaman kaybetmiyorlar .. Müthiş bir yağmur yağıyor ve bu durum, kalktığım saate kadar sürdü... Nasıl olacak derken ,çok erken olmasına rağmen kapının önünde hemen bir taksi buldum .. Fiyatta anlaştık ve hızla"Alejandro Velasco Astete" havaalanına vardık. Alanda Amerikalı-Çinli kaynıyor… Nedenini anlayamıyorum… niçin Amerikalı-Çinliler buraya bu denli meraklı ? bakmam lazım..acaba sima olarak çok benziyorlar ondan mı ? Programa ilaveten, bir ton Çin’li de var ..Demek ki ,Çinliler bu coğrafyayı çok seviyorla... read more

"Bolivian ganja be the best. Heed these words..." And so I continued my journey on my own. I arrived in La Paz early in the morning and grabbed the next bus ticket to Copacabana. Copacabana is a nice little town set up for tourism, but it was quiet. I checked in to my guesthouse and check my facebook messages. The group of travelers I'd traveled to the Salt Flat with were in Chili and sent their regards. I felt alone. I spent my first day at Copacabana strolling locally. Checking out places and looking for street food. The trout there was delicious and was pink, like salmon. The next day I took an early ferry to Isla del Sol, an island, which contained numerous Inca ruins. Dating back to the 15th century AD. I visited the ... read more

Thursday 20 July - Bolivia We went on a tour of La Paz starting with a walk through a preserved part of the old town with narrow streets made of rather slippery bricks and an alarming array of cables attached to tottering poles and house walls. We were shown the oldest church Basilica of San Francisco dating from 1549.In the main square, Plaza Murillo, we admired the Colonial style buildings including the Presidents office previously the Presidential Palace, originally built in 1850, and the Government building with a back to front clock which signified the new changes brought in by the state. We walked through the lively and colourful Mercado de Hechicería, Witches Market, which sold a variety of things including cures for almost everything and a variety of ghastly dried animals and skeletons. We bought ... read more

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 ... read more