Ok, so today was pretty quiet!! Not too much happened, so my blog today will be short and sweet.
I decided to go and see a big park that I had found on my tourist map. It was only a short walk from my hotel, and the sun was shining.
I set off, and managed to cross a couple of big roads with a hell of a lot of traffic on them, without being knocked over, which is always a good start. I climbed up and descended down the hilly roads. I'm still finding that the high altitude sucks the life out of you when walking around. I felt cramps run up and down my legs with each step I took.
I watched as stray dogs battled for territory, and as the shop owners opened their stores. I soon found the park, and actually laughed out loud when I saw the huge barriers up, preventing anyone from going in. It appears that the park is closed for maintenance. The up side of this, was there were actually a lot of people there working on the pathways, the stairs and the gardens. I'm sure it will be nice once it's finished!!
So I turned around, and headed back in the direction I had just come from. I walked straight past the hotel and headed up to the main square.
As I was walking past the presidential palace, I heard the screeching of police sirens, so instinctively I turned around to see what was happening. Up around the corner came 5 4WD's with a police escort. They did a lap around the road directly surrounding the square, and stopped just outside of the presidential palace. A whole heap of secret service men got out in the dark suits, sunglasses, badges and wires hanging from their ears. Then, before my very eyes it appeared it was military top brass meeting day at the palace, as three men of obvious high rank in the army, airforce and navy all casually strolled in through the front door. As they approached the door, the official palace guards did their little marchy tap dancy thing, which is, I assume the way that they greet all high ranking military personal.
With that excitement over with, I continued on my journey. I made my way back to the witch doctors market. I now had a better idea of where it was located, so I found myself walking back along the steep roads in that direction.
With a small amount of difficulty, I eventually found the market. It's not what you would expect, which makes it hard to find. It isn't as if there is a huge building that houses the market. No, it's more like a small little alley way, where there are a few shops that have the tell tail signs of the llama foetus hanging from its rafters. It's actually hard to find amongst the other souvenir shops that line the same streets and narrow alleys.
I knew exactly what I wanted. To make sure I got what I was after, I had looked up and translated the exact potions that I wanted, and written it down in Spanish.
I found my shop, and went in. I tried very hard to explain what I wanted, and then finally she clicked her fingers, walked over to a shelf, got on her knees, an pulled out a secret little draw. Contained in this draw was a stack of potions. So we set about finding the exact ones I was after. She searched, and found each bottle that I wanted. She pointed out and explained each of the symbols to me. After a quick negotiation in price, she wrapped them with coloured llama wool, and blessed each one. She then carefully wrapped each one, and told me which was which so I could write on the newspaper what was contained inside.
I then headed back towards my hotel. I had pretty much seen all that I wanted to see in La Paz, and I was looking forward to going back and reading my amazing book!!
During the afternoon, I repacked my bags, and took one bag down to reception. Again, I have decided to leave one of my bags in storage, for the few days that I will be travelling around the salt lakes of Bolivia.
I spent the rest of the evening reading my book, until tonight I finally finished it!! Argh, now I can go to sleep, and be prepared for my early start tomorrow!!