(Writing this whilst stuck in Potosi bus station for a couple of hours as we didn't read the bus timetable properly - or rather at all)

A flick through the guide on La Paz revealed that pretty much everything of interest is closed on a Monday. I guess we could have predicted that. Therefore Monday was spent wandering around and taking in the general ambiance of the city centre. First impressions were good. It doesn't have the intact colonial centre of so many other places we have been, but there are still plenty of colonial buildings to be seen, just in a generally poor state of repair. It always intrigues me to know what that dilapidated but magnificent building with a phone store and chicken shack on the ground floor was originally built for, unfortunately it is generally impossible to find out. But yes, La Paz had a good feel to it.

Our attention was strangely drawn to a demonstration march of several thousand people generally in traditional dress. To add to the impact of their mere presence, their chanting and their banners, they were also shooting very loud fire crackers into the air at regular intervals. A little disconcerting. We didn't figure out exactly what the march was in aid of, in fact we think there may have been several causes being flagged, however what became clear over the next few days was that this is a daily occurrence. Causes havoc if you want a taxi as the march effectively cuts the centre of town in two.

The so-called Witches Market was another point of interest. Despite being a strongly catholic country, old traditions hold strong. Readily available in a central area of town are all manner of items to be used in 'natural' remedies and deity offerings. A fine example of the former was some kind of cats' ovaries concoction, for improving fertility (I think), and of the latter....dried llama foetuses. Yup. Dozens of stalls selling dried llama foetuses of varying sizes, from little ET-like things to effective still borns. Curiouser and curiouser said Nick and Fabrice.

That night we went really local and ate in Oliver's Irish Bar.