Hola and welcome back to the Two Canucks! This post is a LONG one my friends. It was a short but very full visit to La Paz, so get comfy with your favorite drink and pull up a cushy chair...
The next step in our whirlwind journey was another bus ride, this time to La Paz. Unfortunately the day had dawned cold and rainy, quite a departure from our sunburn days prior. The bus was a public transport fully loaded with people, and lacked heat or windows that shut properly. We crammed ourselves into what appeared to be toddler-sized seats then cleared a little patch in the window fog in order to enjoy the scenery as we traveled. We looked on in dismay as the luggage compartment (where our two little backpacks were stowed) was filled to capacity with bucket after bucket of sardine-sized fish. Buckets without lids.
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| Buckets and buckets of Ispi |
Within 20 minutes of boarding and with extra passengers seated up front with the driver and on the floor near the doors of the bus, we were off. Despite the lack of heat, our cargo became more obvious as we travelled, a distinct fishy odor filling the icy cold bus. As water ran down the insides of the windows and our feet became numb with cold, we speculated about how our luggage was going to smell by the time we reached La Paz. It was a long, uncomfortable trip, with the margins of the road turning to rivers of red mud. Any scenery we might have enjoyed was invisible beyond the streaming windows. We reached what appeared to be La Paz but spent another hour navigating the potholes and muddy streams through what seemed like a landscape composed of garbage. Literally mounds of it, piled along the roadsides and spread in an ugly layer over the fields, yards and streets. It was not an impressive entry into Bolivia's largest city. Happily, our first impressions were about to change.
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| Jam-packed streets in La Paz |
We were relieved to arrive finally at our destination, a street where we elbowed our way off the bus and claimed our faintly fishy luggage. We hailed a taxi, and we were pleased to find it was a clean car that smelled of air freshener, not fish. Our driver was a genial and helpful man who liked to talk. He drove efficiently through the narrow, steeply sloping streets to the hotel where we had reserved a room for a couple of nights. We had it from several sources that it was unwise to be outside after dark in La Paz, a point he also pressed upon us, but he delivered us to the door of our hotel well before then. We had decided to splurge on a stay at La Casona, and were delighted to find it was a lovely old hotel right beside the Plaza San Francisco. A gigantic comfy bed, good food and HOT WATER were more than a little welcome after our long, cramped and very chilly journey. Further exploration of the city would wait until the next day.
The last day of 2014, and our only full day in La Paz, dawned cloudy but rainless, perfect for the many photos I hoped to take. We had both slept like the dead in our cozy room and I awoke without an altitude headache, ready to explore. We had arranged for a full day of walking tours of the city with our guide, a young Bolivian man named German. He spoke perfect English, but indulged our desire to speak Spanish instead. He proved to be a patient and amiable fount of information about La Paz, its fascinating history and politics, and had a great sense of humor as well.
The city sits in the bottom of a bowl and is surrounded by the high mountains of the altiplano, the Andean Plateau. As it grew, the city of La Paz climbed the hills, resulting in elevations varying from 3,200 to 4,100 metres (10,500 to 13,500 feet). The wealthiest people reside in the bottom of the bowl, while the less fortunate people of La Paz build their homes clinging to the sandstone sides of the mountains. There are many who have lost or will lose their homes when the rains come and erode the cliff faces further. Some areas are officially "no build" zones, but homes were built there before the official designation and their owners have nowhere else to go. So there they remain, precariously clinging like burrs to the crumbling stone.
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| Have to be careful how you exit your house here. |
We visited the government buildings, admired statues and memorials and enjoyed the history of La Paz and Bolivia. German made the stories come alive for us and always managed to inject a little humor into everything. He was our living, breathing encyclopedia for the day.
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| The Bolivian Coat of Arms |
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| The backwards clock |
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| Palacio Quemado,the Bolivian Palace of Government |
But the past and politics were no match for the mesmerizing beehive of everyday life in La Paz. The cities of La Paz, El Alto and Viacha make up the La Paz Metropolitan Area with a combined population of about 2.3 million people. I am convinced they were all out walking on the streets of La Paz and El Alto that day. The crush of people and the endless array of activities and goods for sale were both fascinating and exhausting.
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| Throngs of people visiting and shopping |
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| Bread vendor |
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| Lucky underwear for the new year. Red=Love, Yellow=Money |
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| Busy street corner |
A little practice here in elbowing our way through the crowd and we were ready to tackle the street markets of El Alto. We walked through the throngs of people to the hub station of the tram line, a new and non-polluting solution to getting from La Paz to El Alto and back.
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| Red Tram Line up to El Alto |
We enjoyed the novelty and quiet efficiency of both the Red and Yellow tram lines that day, taking us high above to the city of El Alto and presenting us with spectacular views over the city of La Paz below.
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| One of many spectacular views over La Paz from the tram. |
We spent several hours exploring the street markets of El Alto and taking pictures of La Paz below us, while German regaled us with stories of the present and past of this colorful city.
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| Hero of the revolution |
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| Che Guevara |
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| Yep. Straight down. Plenty of time to bounce. |
The markets were a dazzling mosaic of colors, odors and sound. You could buy any type of meat, produce or household goods your heart desired, hire a plumber or handyman, purchase your lucky New Year's grapes, or have your fortune told either by a bird or by a fortune teller.
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| One of dozens of vendors of New Year's grapes. |
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| Pork,fresh as of this morning |
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| Yellow = healthy chicken |
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| Whatever you need or want can be bought here. |
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| Visiting outside a row of fortune teller's stalls |
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| Fresh produce at rock bottom prices |
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| Peppers. Hot ones. |
We stopped for a rest and to people-watch, enjoying bottles of soda and a saltena, a type of crescent-shaped meat pie, like an empanada.
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| Snack time with saltenas and coke. |
Once refreshed and ready to move on, we took the yellow tram down to spend the afternoon in La Paz itself. We soon found a little café next to a park where we enjoyed a lunch and ice cream, then went off to continue exploring the narrow streets and markets.
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| Beautiful street in La Paz |
We finished up at the Witches Market, where we enjoyed some spirited bargaining for alpaca gloves and scarves, not useful in our current Tarapoto location, but certainly desirable for our return to Canada. This is where we also learned about the Bolivian New Year's custom of purchasing small replicas of the things you wish for in the coming year.
Bundles of fake money, and miniature ceramic models of cars, houses, and just about anything else you could want,
are sold to be offered up to the household god of prosperity, Ekeko, who will bring you the desires of your heart in the coming year. Along with that, grapes are purchased and one eaten for each month of the coming year to bring good luck.
We were taken into one of many shops where mummified fetuses of llamas are sold as a good luck charm. Burying one beneath the foundation of a house brings luck and good fortune to the household. They are also used in traditional shamanistic rituals, but the ones we saw in the Witches Market of La Paz are offered primarily for tourists. You can learn more about them and other interesting Bolivian customs here .
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| Mummified llama fetuses hanging in a shop entrance |
After the crush of the crowds and the non-stop walking, we had come to the end of the day with our friend German. We thanked him for the crash course in all things Bolivian and for his patience in answering all our questions then parted company from him. In the plaza crammed with people we made the quick decision to take a short side trip into the beautiful San Francisco Cathedral. With only one full day in La Paz we certainly couldn't do it or the attached museum justice, but it seemed a crime to not at least go inside. We spent about 20 minutes seated in silence, contemplating the elaborate beauty of this baroque-style church, and enjoying the departure from the noise and bustle outside.
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San Francisco Cathedral
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No photos are allowed within the church, and I was pretty much photo-ed out by this point. I just wanted to commit the day to memory within the peace and quiet of the church.
It was now New Year's Eve, and the streets were overflowing with cars and pedestrians as people began to head home to spend the night celebrating with family. Just before sunset, we took one last exploratory trip, up the stairs of a building next to our hotel, to enjoy a rooftop patio view of the plaza. We ordered energy drinks, which were washtub-sized and an unlikely but delicious combination of peach juice, quinoa, yogurt and a shot of wine.
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| Plaza San Francisco |
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| Much needed energy |
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| Traditional dress |
We rested our weary feet and spent a delightful hour hanging over the edge of the patio people-watching the pedestrians and vendors six stories below. By the time darkness fell, we had only a half block to walk to our hotel, where we topped off a great day with a feast of good food and Bolivian beer.
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| Setting up shop in the San Francisco Plaza |
We waddled off afterwards to our room where we cozied down and watched a Steven Seagal movie. In Spanish. Without subtitles. Happily, a full grasp of any language is not required to understand a Steven Seagal movie. While gunfire sounded on the television in our room, outside a barrage of firecrackers went on well into the night, celebrating the arrival of 2015. We were spending New Year's eve in Bolivia. Who'd a thunk it?
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