A Quick Tour of La Paz

Although I was sad to depart Brazil, I was beyond excited for the next part of our journey - Bolivia! But getting to La Paz was easier said than done. Our flights required a 7+ hour layover in Santa Cruz. Now normally I'd be up for going out and exploring, but by the time I got my visa and we had been through border control, we were too hungry to think of anything but eating... Right NOW. We settled for a few pieces of pizza and a MyWay sub sandwich.

At that point we only had 5 hours and the idea of going out to see a town and then possibly not making it back in time for our connection made us nervous. So instead we went through security to the tiny little terminal. After hours of waiting, we finally got onto our itsy bitsy plane and made an uneventful landing in La Paz.

On arrival to La Paz, I could already feel my breathing becoming more of a struggle. La Paz El Alto (where the airport is) is just about 4000 meters above sea level, and of course we had come right from sea level in Brazil! After filling out forms and paying more money, we were allowed through the border and then whisked by an awaiting driver to our hotel.

With only a few days in La Paz we wanted to make the most of it so we went out in search of dinner our first night, tired as we were. We found the streets to be vibrating with energy and people, and even though it was late, everything was open. I instantly liked La Paz, even though we had only seen it for a few hours. Our walk down to the restaurant was easy, but the walk up to our hotel took twice as long and found us huffing and puffing for breath in the thin air. Slowly, slowly we made our way back as we tried to acclimatize. That night's sleep was full of shallow breathing and bouts of insominia (symptoms of altitude sickness). We awoke the next morning exhausted but determined to enjoy our limited time.

Some of you may have heard about free walking tours that are common in big cities - a guide takes you around and you tip them whatever you think they deserved. We took advantage of this free tour in La Paz and after a morning of wandering and relaxing and buying our onward bus tickets, we joined the tour. We started at La Paz's prison, which used to be a tourist attraction complete with guided tours. Prisoners must pay for their cells and have to find a way to make money while on the inside. Many have their families (wives and children) living with them, and their families are free to come and go as they please. Very different than most prison models, right? 

 

We then walked through several markets and just took in the sights and colors. Everywhere the typical Bolivian woman sat, long skirts with petticoats, cardigans, and aprons with the iconic bowler hat. The hat is very important and shows if they are single or taken, as well as being used for social status.

Next was the witches' market with rows of llamas fetuses. These are buried under new buildings with the help of a witch doctor for good luck as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). There were also these small packets that could help you with anything you needed - making someone love you, making someone listen and obey you, making someone leave you alone, etc. etc. I didn't look too hard, but I bet I could have found the magic, "make your students learn and remember everything" packet that would have helped me in my next school. Ah well, maybe next time.

 

We walked down one giant hill past the multitude of buses and cars (beep, beEP, BEEP!) to a beautiful church. When it was constructed, the indigenous people helped to build it so there are some interesting carvings on the front that you wouldn't normally find on a church. The indigenous people were also tricked into going to church after it was built, as they were told their souls were stuck within. When they entered the church, they saw their reflections for the first time, and thought it was their souls. They were told if they wanted to be with their soul, they had to come in every Sunday. And guess what? The trick worked! The mirrors still hang there today.

Our guide next took us to a shopping center that looked like a parking structure married some corrugated metal. Apparently the architects went on strike and the person in charge (mayor, I think?) decided to just design it himself. It is an eyesore, but has some amazing fruit juice stands where they use bottled water and pasteurized milk. YumMY!

Finally we ended in a very important square with the House of Parliament and house of the President. We learned quite a bit about Bolivia's history, and if you're interested it's worth learning about. They had one president in 1867 who traded part of his country for a beautiful white horse. Much later another president stole a great deal of Bolivianos (the currency there) and ran away to hide in America. Many presidents have been tossed out of the President's house, so many that no president will reside there out of fear of being thrown off a balcony (seriously, I'm not kidding here). The pictures below show a guarded tomb of a previous president (Andres de Santa Cruz) and the house of Parliament that was moved brick by brick from Sucre to La Paz and has a backwards clock on the top to show respect for sundials.

After our magnificent tour, Paul and I headed out for some shopping and food. What do you think of my bowler hat? The people in the shops were friendly but not pushy, and it was fun to just wander around and look at all the different brightly colored garments and cloths. We returned to the parking-lot-like-mall to find dinner. We had been told by our guide that the top floor of the mall had the best food in La Paz. Searching around for a bit, we found a very busy stall and a woman selling soup. We couldn't quite figure out what she was selling, so we pointed to some other customer's bowls and figured if they liked it, we would. Well Paul ended up with some kind of animal's stomach, and I had something with bone, and maybe fat wrapped around it? I tried a few bites of each but it was all I could do to keep it down. The liquid part of the soup was good, but we left the 'meat' as it was a bit hard to stomach (no pun intended...).

 

With the little I had learned of the history of Bolivia and La Paz and my time interacting with the kind and helpful locals, I was hungry for more. Unfortunately the next day we were off, to our next adventure... Getting to Tupiza and our tour!