The day started disappointingly.

I headed to my favourite nearby cafe, Typica, for an overpriced (but nice) fruity empanada for a rather unsuccessful call home that largely consisted of me seeing the ears of various family members.

After a couple hours of being bored to death in the house, we (me and fellow interns, Charlie and Rafaela) headed to Plaza Espana for lunch. Ceviche, a Peruvian rawfish dish, we brought out the back of a van. Delicious! Fresh, healthy and with a bit of a kick, but unfortuantely not that filling.

Following that, we headed by minibus down to the Prado. La Paz has been wonderful these last few days, basking in glorious high altitude sunshine. We headed to the tourist hub of Calle Saganarga and went to a rather intriguing vegan cafe. There I had a slightly more filling sandwich with pesto, avocado, lettuce, tomato and figs for £1.50. Smashin! I also bumped into Nicole, a 3rd year Physicist from Christ Church touring South America with her family. What a small world it is.

Whilst Rafaela was finishing up translating an article by one of the editors (Adriana) me and Charlie decided to check out some Llama Foetuses. In Sagarnaga itself they're mostly there just to surprise the tourists as they browse through the indigenously weaved bags and jumpers they're considering getting for their grandmas, but they are in fact used in Bolivian witchcraft. I'd been disappointed in my previous visits to that bit of La Paz in not finding them, so glad to have ticked them off.

I also then bumped into Alice, a volunteer from Ambue Ari I met a couple weeks ago, studying Physics at Nottingham. What a small world it is, especially if you're a physicist!

We then headed back with Rafaela, to the house, and thanks to our disappointment at the fact the delicious French bakery on Avenida 6 de Agosto was closed, we got some cake and I got a choripan. I've now just had a slightly more successful call home where I broke news of my plans to go to Istanbul as well as Kiev/Chernobyl this winter. I'M SO EXCITED! ISTANBUL! Even the name gives me shivers. I know I'm still in Latin America, but I'm craving something new, a Muslim country with good food and a major stake in world politics is about as different as it gets to Bolivia.

Not sure about plans for tonight. The nearby night club, Forum, has a high cover fee (£5 - high for Bolivia, ok!) and apparently is full of 16 year olds... Other clubs are far, and am wanting to be on good form for my last day in Bolivia tomorrow, heading up to the markets of El Alto to bag some souvenirs me hopes.

All the interns for this month are leaving, and most of us for Peru. Leigh from New York with internships/jobs at CNN lined up for her return is heading to Lima to see a friend meanwhile Surrey boarding school chums Rafaela and Charlie are going backpacking to Lima together, before they return to go to uni in Scotland. Robyn and Anna I think are going straight back to the UK.

La Paz is in my opinion, up there with the most undeservedly hated places on Earth. La Paz gets a bad rap from most who come here, largely because they spend most of their time here out of breath and hungover. But look beyond the decriped northern suburbs of Max Paredes and head south to Sopocachi, Cala Coto and Miraflores, you discover a multilayered, fascinating city of lustrabotas (masked, terrorist-look-alike shoeshine boys), street-sellers and zebra costumed traffic wardens. At once hectic, on an other hand safe, homely and calm. La Paz should actually be regarded as a world wonder not a mere pit stop on the gringo coke trail.

La Paz. I love you.

Yo voy a volver

Vamos!