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So, after Amee and Gemma left and I was alone for a few hours I decided to head to the rooftop bar of the hostel to relax and read my book but after about an hour of being there I got a facebook message telling me that they were unable to fly due to snow and that their flight was cancelled until Tuesday. Although this was not good for them it was awesome for me as it meant that I had people to spend time with for an extra few days! To make it even better their airline put them up in a 5 star hotel with free food vouchers for their entire stay. They very kindly invited me to their hotel so the last few days I have been relaxing in a warm, comfortable, cosy hotel and the girls have even been sharing their food vouchers so I have even been getting free food its been awesome.
On saturday we spent pretty much all day in the hotel having lunch and watching movies on the Widescreen plasma tv they have in their room!!!! This is something I would never expect in Bolivia its amazing.
We did very much the same yesterday until around 4pm when I had to go to work at the bar for the night. It was a pretty easy going shift, not too busy and was able to meet some people to hang around with when Gemma and Amee fly out so means I wont be alone all the time.
Today we are again chilling out in the 5 star comfort of the hotel, and going to see Transformers 3 at the cinema, considering that its even in English its an opportunity we can not really miss!
Over the last few days I have really started to get used to the Bolivian way of life, its awesome, crazy and really fustrating. It slowly drives you crazy and feels like you can never escape. I thought I was being a bit dramatic with this thought of La Paz but last night speaking to some of the people I work with in the bar they feel exactly the same, and they have so many stories of their friends having to leave La Paz before they go completely insane. Its hard to describe what exactly it is about La Paz that does it to you but there is something that if you stay too long you will lose your mind completely, and there are a lot of people around who it has happened too, and there is no escape for them. Im glad I know I have a leaving date as that is probably the main thing that is keeping me sane! Other than that it is an awesome city, just not a permanent place to live.
Looking through the markets here is pretty dissapointing too, especially compared to Peru. In Peru they seem the embrace their culture and history and this shows in the markets when they sell the local handicrafts and knitwear that is traditional to the area, however here in La Paz the markets are very similar to the bad markets and car boot sales at home, selling teddies, toys, shoes, bags etc, none of which bare any resemblance to Bolivia or La Paz at all. There is however one market called the Witches Market which is a lot more traditional, and pretty creepy! They basically sell lots of potions and herbal remedies to help for ANYTHING, and literally anything. They even go to the extreme of selling dried Llama feutuses which you give to someone moving in to a new house as a sign of good luck, and the idea is they place it in or under the house to protect the house from evil...I know what Im getting Mal and Beth for their moving in present!
After today I only have 6 days left in crazy La Paz before I begin my long journey home, which consists of a 7 hour bus journey to Puno, a 5 hour bus trip to Arequipa, a night in a hostel, a 15 hour bus trip to Lima, a night in a hostel, a 6 hour flight to Miami, a 9 hour flight to London then a 3 hour train ride to Newcastle...all in the space of 3 days...its going to be a tiring trip home!
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