La Paz May 19 – 21

We boarded the nightbus in Sucre and were glad to see that it was ‘Cama Suite’ which meant that the seats fully reclined. Obviously, being in Bolivia however, the roads were pretty bumpy and windy so it still wasn’t going to be the smoothest of journeys. We were just happy that our driver was sober (well he seemed to be), as drivers in Bolivia have been known to consume a lot of alcohol whilst at the wheel. Just what you want to hear when on these roads! I’m still undecided as to whether the roads are worse in Bolivia or Lao!

Anyway, about three hours into the journey I was unable to sleep as needed to use the bathroom. I headed downstairs only to find the toilet was locked. On approaching the staff they just bluntly said ‘NO’. I felt pretty sick at this point too so had planned in my head that should I need to vomit I would head down the stairs and face the staff rather than the passengers! Luckily it didn’t come to that! Various other passengers kept asking about the toilet and all they would say is ‘NO’. Eventually we made a stop for the drive r to eat and for us to use some bathrooms.

Luckily after this we managed to get some broken sleep whilst hugging our bags in case anyone tried to steal them. After a twelve hour journey we arrived in La Paz and headed to the hostel we had booked, the only problem was that we took a slightly wrong turn and it took us 15 minutes to find rather than five. Oh well! You live and learn!

La Paz is the capital of Bolivia, 3500m above sea level with sprawling streets and h
ouses clutching to the mountain sides. Looking out of the city you have an amazing view of a snow capped mountain which makes up for the ugliness of La Paz!

A lot of people had told us that La Paz is known for its pickpockets and con artists so we were highly prepared for this and took to storing our money in our bras! It worked well during our stay, apart from a few strange looks when we had to get money out in shops, but definitely a technique we will use more often. Girls – it may even mean you don’t need to take a bag on a night out!

Arriving at our hostel around 730am we really wanted a couple more hours kip but being a large hostel for South American standards they wouldn’t let us check in until the afternoon. Lacking energy we spent the morning sitting in the bar (without alcohol) catching up on emails and sorting photos out. After checking in to our tiny cold room, which we couldn’t really complain about as the beds were comfy and it was only costing us £2.50 a night, we headed into the city to have a little explore. We walked around the southern part of the city, full of little markets, tiny little shops for the locals and lots of hills. Much to our dismay we stumbled across an English pub and found ourselves walking in and ordering a full English breakfast! It was the first time in months that I’d seen this but was disappointed when it arrived and they were definitely not English baked beans! Being lame we then headed back for a siesta in the hope we would have a good night out in La Paz.

Feeling refreshed we went to get cash out which itself turned into a bit of a nightmare. Zara’s card was swallowed by the ATM so we had to go about cancelling the card and finding a way to get her money into another account. The same also happened to another guy in our hostel so it helped make things a bit easier! Needing a drink we headed to the bar for our free beer, followed by a couple of very strong but cheap cocktails and realised no-one else was heading into town. We were a bit disappointed with this but the bar had a good atmosphere and we were having fun playing Mario Kart on the N64!

After a good night’s sleep we sorted out the final details for Zara’s bank card and headed into the city for further exploration. We visited various markets including the witches markets where llama foetuses and dried up llama babies were being sold. Apparently it is supposed to bring some kind of luck if you own one. We refrained from purchasing one, especially when we saw one of the shopkeepers sitting stroking one of them!

We also visited the ‘Coca Museum’ to see the history on the leaf and how it plays a part in spiritual and religious life over here. There have been numerous laws on this in the past, but today the leaf itself is legal but the derivitave (cocaine) is illegal. This obviously hasn’t stopped the production and Bolivia is currently the highest producer of illegal cocaine in the world. There are many countries which are legally allowed to make cocaine for medical reasons, one of which is the UK. Another interesting fact is that Coca-Cola contains coca (hence the name). It has changed over the years as the original recipe would now be illegal, but a couple of years ago Coca-Cola purchased hundreds of kilos of coca for its use. The man that invented Coca-Cola was the first person to consume cocaine and later on died as a result of it!

Before arriving in La Paz we had been keen to visit San Pedro prison, but realised it was too dangerous to do so on our own. Having not met any guys that were going to try and get in we resulted in just walked past and taking a look. If you don’t know much about this prison then take a look at it online, the history is insane! Basically, you can take tours of the working prison if you bribe the guards. The prison itself is pretty much run by the inmates and some of them come and go as they please (which we witnessed). Those with lots of money have nice rooms with TV’s, computers etc and even have their families living with them. The poor have to live in the corridors on minimal rations. This is all right in the city centre. We tried to take a picture of the outside but a guard saw me and asked me to delete it. As he was carrying a huge gun I politely obliged!

After this we headed over to Plaza Murillo to see the Presidential Palace and Government Buildings. On arrival we saw a line of riot police and a blacked out car being escorted into the palace. We can only think that it must have been the President himself! The palace is guarded by men in 19th Century red outfits but the beauty is outshone but the government buildings which seem to be much more aesthetically pleasing.

We sat in the square to take a breather but the amount of pigeons got too much and we forced ourselves to walk more streets to see the best preserved street in La Paz. Home to colonial style buildings and all painted different colours, it really made us realise that there is a nicer part of La Paz! We spent the evening with the Belgium guy, drinking a couple of beers and being disappointed with the nightlife before getting another decent nights sleep!