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Published: December 16th 2010
When we left Banos in Ecuador many moons ago, we had planned to reach Bolivia within the first week of December. However, after realising the situation regarding buses in South America (i.e can't always be relied upon, and often no services between major towns) we accepted this might be out of the question. It was therefore with much joy that we crossed over the border and reached Bolivia- La Paz even- on the 7th of December.
The ride out of Copacabana to La Paz went without any major events really. We were expecting maybe a little slip off a cliff or something, but apparently this wasn't the really dangerous side to enter the city. There was a little commotion when a man from the front of the bus stood up and said 'Right now we must take short ferry ride'. We were expecting this as we had already read about it, but a lot of the other passengers had no idea what was going on. Basically, to take a shortcut across Lake Titicaca the bus is placed on a rickety wooden raft, and the passengers are herded onto a little ferry (fare not included in the price of the bus
ticket of course). Then the passengers get back on the bus on the other side. We read somewhere that this practice is illegal, but we're not really sure. There seemed to be a bit of a queue down at the docks anyhow. We all made it across safely, including the bus and arrived into La Paz around 10pm.
Wow, and what a city. La Paz is a vibrant collection of juxtaposed places and people. There are markets upon markets selling anything you could possibly want to buy ranging from toe nail clippers to llama foetuses, yet there are also really swish hotels and restaurants in which you can find cuisines from all over the world including Thai, Japanese, Swiss, Moroccan, Chinese, Indian, and all importantly, British. The city is amazing and one of the best places we have been so far. It is alive all day and night, and there is always something to do. Our plan for La Paz was to have a little relax and get a real good fix of British food. We spent 3 full days wandering the streets of this fantastic city, taking in the delights of the cuisines available, and doing a bit
of shopping. We particularly loved the stationery market which sold anything and everything stationery related for less than half the prices at home.
When we first arrived to our hostel Wild Rover, we were again impressed. It was yet another big city hostel filled with other travellers- many British. It was nice and clean and had really comfortable beds. On the top floor there was a faux Irish pub open all hours selling food and beers. We were a little peeved to have to book into a dorm on our first night, as we had spent the majority of the past three days on incredibly long bus journies. However, we managed to sleep through the other 8 people coming in at whatever time.
We found out the following morning that La Paz really is a city that never sleeps. And like in other cities we have visited in South America, it has a shady nightlife scene which is kept under wraps. Most of the people that we spoke to had ended the night in an underground club only accessible from a roll down metal shutter. i.e. another private party. The place was apparently an actual coke den, where
they were serving drugs on silver platters. How completely bizarre. A few of the people told us they had sampled it- defending themselves with the old adage 'when in Rome..' We were glad we hadn't gone.
Our hostel offered free taxi rides at 1.30am to a multitude of clubs including Mongo's which serves steaks all night long, and Blue House. We being extremely boring, did not make it out on either of the two following nights, as we spent our time drinking in the hostel bar and complaining that the kitchen closed at 9 o clock.
On our first day in the city we decided to visit the Star of India- apparently the highest British-Indian food restaurant in the world. We had the three course lunch menu which didn't disappoint for just £3 each. We were a little surprised to see a photo of our Queeny on the wall. After a few beers and with the influence of some good old Christmas decorations, we were feeling well merry during our afternoon stroll at the witches market. The second day we spent wandering the streets again this time for Christmas presents, although the search was without reward. We headed
to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch which was shut- it opened at 9.30pm how annoying. So we then re-figured and decided to go to The Steakhouse. We were more than impressed with our Argentinian imported cuts and again left full and light headed. We spent the afternoon loitering in camping gear shops and pondering whether the incredibly cheap North Face gear was real.
On our third day we decided to pop into a travel agent to see whether we could get a flight to Cuzco in Peru, for near to Christmas. We fell hook, line and sinker when we found out the plane only took 1 hour and arrrived 5 minutes before we took off local time. For £62 each it was so worth avoiding a 14 hour bus journey back through Puno. To celebrate we went to eat at Oliver's Travels- the best place so far. This is a real English pub selling real English food. We each had the big breakfast followed by dessert. Luke asked the waiter where we could buy some alcohol in La Paz, as we were going on a trip that night. We were told where the black market alcohol area was, and
headed off. This was the biggest dinner that we had eaten, and this felt like the hardest walk ever. As La Paz is situated in a valley like location, and considering the altitute, it is deifinately not for the faint at heart. An afternoon walking around the town would probably equate to two full hours on the stepper, level 10. And after a beer lunch it is even more difficult to step out into the mountainous terrain in search of more alcohol. We finally reached our destination and bought a bottle of Amaretto and Vodka for £4.50. Seeing the time we were in a panic and practically had to run back to the hostel, bottles clattering.
We had booked onto a 3 day trip to see the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni. After the trip we would take the bus to Potosi the highest city in the world- where we would take a tour of the silver mines. Then we would take a bus to Sucre, the second capital of Bolivia. We would then catch a bus back to La Paz around the 17th, for some more city activities and ready for our flight to Cuzco on the
21st. All of this trip had cost around £100 each- food and accomodation included for the first 4 nights. We booked through Honey tours which was just across the road from Wild Rover, and they were extremely efficient at sorting everything out for us, despite us messing them around about transport. We eventually opted to take the local bus to Uyuni for £12 as opposed to the tourist bus for £23. We changed our mind on this a total of 3 times. Fortunately we made a good choice and were happy we had not wasted the extra money. Our bus was to leave the La Paz main terminal at 7pm, so we booked a taxi and headed off.
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zee
non-member comment
ewww
pics of the llame foetus, not nice =( SCARRED FOR LIFE!!!!! that steak looks massive and juicy though!! iv kind of started eating steak recently would you believe! keep enjoying yourselves =) xxxxxxxxxx