A good friend had made a very apt joke when he ridiculed the fact that my guide book was called 'South America on a shoestring', referring to the fact that I hadn't really done things on a shoestring budget. True, I always paid a little extra for some comforts but at my age these were deemed necessary. Flying to La Paz from Sucre I considered to be one of them. Spending roughly 12 hours on a Bolivian bus or take a 40 minute flight on a new airplane overlooking a spectacular mountain range for roughly £40. At this point in my trip it was a no brainer.

We had seen many indigenous Andean women in the last few weeks with their trademark long plats and bowler hats, but while we were getting off the plane we saw a lady who was what seemed like the 'modern' Andean woman. Long plats, bowler hat, traditional clothes finished off with a nice pair of small heels and carrying a laptop case. We did chuckle and smile a little and I think the lady worked out what we were smiling at and acknowledged the contradiction with a smile back, I think. I would have loved to have a picture of this but thought it may not be appropriate to ask.

I had read the description of La Paz in the guide book before arriving and as the taxi driver took some of the final turns to descend into the city, for once it almost looked liked how I imagined it. The main thoroughfare through the city was like a river snaking through a steep valley with the hillsides covered in buildings and houses. The density of the houses higher up the hillsides bared some resemblance to the favelas of Rio from a distance but these didn't seem as colourful. Getting into the city centre was very chaotic though. The streets being narrow and full of people, cars, buses and bikes all over the place. I have never been to India and it is probably more chaotic than this but this was the first thing that popped into my head that I could compare it to. It soon became all too normal however and after checking into our hotel, we quickly absorbed the atmosphere of the city.

La Paz felt like just another chaotic South American city, with colour and randomness on every corner but of course with its own unique flavour. We were staying quite central, very near to the so called 'witches market' which amongst other things was famous for selling dried lama fetuses. This sounds quite gross and indeed many of the specimens were, but it is believed that if they are buried underneath your new house, it brings luck and prosperity. I plan to buy a house sometime in the future but think that I will stick to conventional means to try and obtain luck (and I don't think UK customs would believe my story for having such an item in my luggage). All the streets near to where we were staying were lined with shops and market stalls of either the tourist artesan type selling traditional Andean handicrafts, or the more 'real' and entertaining local markets where you could buy pretty much anything.

We spent a lot of time walking around the city exploring the many narrow streets from the hilltop mirador of Laikakota, to the market alleyways selling what looked like the worlds largest collection of shoes. One of the cultural experiences we undertook was visiting the quite unique coca museum (stop smirking people). This was a very small, almost 'home-made' museum detailing the history, culture, growing and use of the coca leaf in traditional Andean culture. It also chronicled it's 'exploitation by the white man' finding a use for it in medicine initially and of course recreational abuse. It was interesting but was very strong on promoting the fact that when used by the local indigenous culture in it's traditional way, it had many benefits and no harmful effects and the only reason it had such a negative connotation in the views of many, is because of how the white man had exploited it. A lot of it was quite factual and informative but there may have been a few facts that were exaggerated. Still, no matter which way your opinion swayed, you could sample all sorts of coca leaf related products in the coffee/gift shop.

By the final day my mind was not on South America anymore, instead it was focused on my imminent return to the UK. I was well and truly done with my travelling escapades and had gotten the SudAmerican experience I was after. I wouldn't say I was completely 'over it' but was ready to come home. Not before however, I was to have the most nerve racking experience of my whole trip.....