Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 12

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

David here... We got to airport with plenty of time to spare for our flight north from La Paz to Rurrenabaque. The traffic in La Paz was really bad but we had given ourselves enough time. We breezed through check-in, thanks to our printed boarding passes, so decided to grab a snack of chicken tenders to share from a Tropical Chicken place (surprisingly good) before going through to the gates. The flight was delayed by 30 minutes but it wasn't too long until we were seated on the plane and in the air. We were only flying for about 40 minutes, time enough for a lovely coffee with condensed milk. We came to land among the most stunning and green scenery we've ever seen. The airport at Rurrenabaque was tiny, so much so that we were ... read more

Uyuni is... well pretty dusty, It's a small town in the desert so I don't know what I expected. I found a nice tour agency, they were more expensive and by this I mean like $25.00. The Solar Uyuni is something you should all do. It's plenty of driving and endless expanses. The first day we went to the salt flats and I met my travel companions. We had a temporary person that was only at the flats with us, Armie,was from the Philippines and she is in our epic jumping photo. Then there was Emma and Nick from London and Marin and Ray from Japan. They were all easy going, I lucked out. Our guide Jamie was great and had a way of telling jokes without laughing. The three days we spent together in the ... read more

Nous arrivons en fin d'après midi à La Paz par les plateaux qui surplombent la ville. La route serpente pour descendre jusqu'au centre-ville, le soleil se couche et donne de jolies couleurs orangées aux maisons accrochées à la montagne. On est loin de la "maison" de Maxime Leforestier cette fois-ci. La ville est assez étonnante, il faut dire qu'on est dans la capitale la plus haute du monde et que les quartiers s'échelonnent entre 3600m et 4100m d'altitude... De quoi en avoir le souffle coupé ! Il y a même des télécabines qui relient le bas de la ville, ses riches maisons et quartier d'affaire aux hauteurs de la ville, plutôt populaires voire complètement en marge du reste de la ville pour certains endroits. Nous resterons 2 nuits à la Paz, le temps de profiter du ... read more

Today I'm celebrating the Bolivian Fiera de la Alasitas! (Alasitas fair). For the next month, people from all over Bolivia will travel to La Paz to buy and offer miniature versions of their desires to Ekeko, the Aymara god of abundance. The Alasitas, miniatures of everyday items, money, etc. are blessed by an Andean priest with bells and smoke given to statues of the god along with a lit cigarette, in a festival that predates the Incas (12th - 16th century). Nowadays it is a mix of spiritual and consumerist practices in which people will spend hundreds of dollars in the hope that Ekeko will grant their wish. According to lapazlife.com Typical miniatures include 'houses, cars, electrical goods, clothing, food, computers, airline tickets and even university degrees'*. The fair was originally celebrated in September to ensure ... read more