Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
As frenetic as it is high above sea level, La Paz is open for business 24/7, packed to the rafters with almost every item for sale you can think of and shows no signs of falling asleep. At times hot by day and freezing by night, the city is set in a deep volcano, with the Main Street at the very bottom, which makes walking painful if not extremely tiring. Having said that the views are breathtaking (literally) with high rises (probably the only ones in Bolivia) and houses built up the valley almost to the rim in some places.
I headed straight to the market most days for a juice fix and some salteñas (delicious filled pastries) and continued the day walking around up to lookouts and admiring the millions of items on offer at many market stalls around the city. It's not only the crazy things for sale (foetuses, heads etc) but also the characters selling their goods that makes for some fine entertainment. La Paz also has a Coca museum. This turned out to be full of information on a plant so significant to the Andean culture, it even provided instructions on how to make cocaine! No photos though! (I only took notes).
Seeing as Christmas was just around the corner I wanted to get into the spirit and kindly asked a homeless woman for a Santa photo with her kids (I offered her a small amount of money). She even cleaned their grubby little mugs for the photo! The looks I copped from the locals were priceless. Imagine seeing a huge gringo having a photo with two little Bolivians, maybe I kidnapped them? I also handed out some chocolate to a few street women then treated myself to a couple of Christmas presents (guitar/watch) and joined in the hectic gatherings of locals in various plazas for music and loads of light. I'm not sure if Christmas is as much of "a thing" here as in Oz but there were often live bands putting their spin on the classic carol as well as enormous, towering trees decorated to the very top in every plaza, with couples taking their awkward festive photos underneath.
I was certain that I didn't want to be stuck in a big city for Christmas (as nice as it might have been) and made sure I would be able to make it to Lake Titicaca for Christmas Day. First glances of the gigantic lake from the bus window brought on feelings of utter excitement. The sheer size and colour is something that needs to be seen to be believed! Truly captivating!
- comments