La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz Central Parque
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2009-01-27

Today was going to be a long travel day, as the group made its way from Puno, Pero to La Paz, Bolivia. Breakfast was at 6:30 am and we were all on the mini bus by 7 am. At 7:30 am we boarded a local bus. Luckily, Lori had entered Peru on her British passport, so she would not have to worry about trying to change to it at the border. To enter Bolivia on her US passport could have cost up to $160. Along the way we played Gin with Andrea and Vicky and after two hours arrived near the border and where we changed money. A few kilometers later, we were at the border crossing. It was our first boarder crossing in South America so we both a little nervous, but it went smoothly without a hitch. Peru involved a stop at the police station followed by immigration. Bolivia was just one stop at immigration. We were advised to pretend that we didn’t know Maruja, our guide, during this time as she explained that she had previously had issues at the border as the Bolivians did not want her working in their country as she was Peruvian.

After an hour, we were rewarded when the band started playing and the Bolivian president appeared together with other top officals

La Paz San Francisco
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After the crossing, we had a short ride to the town of Cococabana, where we had to pay 1 boliviano ($.14) a piece to enter. We took our things from the bus and loaded them onto another bus. We had lunch with Catherine, Christine and Paula at a local hotel. The chicken sandwiches, hamburgers and pasta seemed to take ages to arrive, but we managed to eat it all before the next bus left. For the forty-five minutes ride to the crossing of Lake Titicaca we both managed to sleep. We paid another 1.5 bolivianos a piece and boarded a wooden boat to cross the lake. The bus crossed separately in another, bigger wooden boat. We were all relieved to see the bus with their things arrive on the other side as it all looked a little precarious during the crossing. We boarded the bus for the two hour ride to La Paz.

La Paz Night out
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As we approached the city, the chaos of traffic began. There seem to be no rules of the road as cars ran red lights, lorries forced cars a side and people took there life in there hands as they ran across the road. We were happy to be a on a sizable bus. The driver stopped briefly above the city, so we could take photos of La Paz. It is inside a valley and there were buildings and people everywhere. La Paz was founded in 1548 following the discovery of gold, which failed. The silver route between Potosi and the Pacific however assured the city’s progress. It is the governmental capital of Bolivia and has a population of approximatlely 1.5 million. The group arrived at the Las Brisas hotel around 5:30 pm and met at 7 pm for dinner. We took taxis to another area of town to eat at Maphrao On, an Asian restaurant, on Calle Hermanos Manchego that Maruja recommended. Due to the size of the group, we took several taxis. We shared with Andrea and Vicky and got stuck in traffic and but managed to arrive after about thirty minutes. Five more of the group still hadn’t arrived and they luckily turned up about twenty minutes later. The portions at Maphrao On were very generous, but the flavour was lacking and given the price 45 bolivianos ($6.43) a meal, we left a little disappointed. If we had known the portions were going to be so big, they would have shared a meal and saved some cash.

La Paz Night out
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2009-01-28

With nothing on the cards for the day we took advantage of some free time and slept in and had breakfast with Maruja a little after 10 am. After reading about how dangerous La Paz could be, we packed up the camera and decided to walk a tour that was recommended in their Lonely Planet book. We walked through countless markets, which of course Ian thoroughly enjoyed before arriving at bottom of Plaza Murillo, the main square. Armed policemen seemed to be checking IDs blocked the entrance to the main square. At first they would not let us in, but after we told them they just wanted to see the cathedral they let us in. As we entered the square, we noticed that there was additional security everywhere and what seemed to be a platform infront of what Lori thought was the Palace Presidencial, which it turned out to be. We decided to stand with the crowds and see what happened for a while.

La Paz Central Plaza Pedro D Murillo
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After an hour, we were rewarded when the band started playing and the Bolivian president appeared toether with other top officals. The defense minister gave a speech followed the president. Unfortunately, Lori and Ian could not understand the speech, but it was interesting to see how little security, compared to what they would see in the UK, Australia or US, there was. Afterwards we took in the rest of the buildings in the square that included the Palacio Legislativo and cathedral. We continued our walk to the Plaza San Francisco and Iglesia San Francisco. Hunger became apparent, so we stopped for a burger and chips. After our tummies were full, we continued our walk up to the Witch’s market, which sold various touristy items and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and catching up on the journal. As a new tour started in La Paz, they met with their new tour leader, Alessandra (Ale), at 7 pm.

La Paz Central Plaza Pedro D Murillo Bolivian President
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Amelia was leaving the group that night for the UK and Caroline and Alex were leaving the group to join another GAP tour that would take them across to Buenos Aires. We were joined by Rune, from Denmark, Hailey, from the UK and Rachel from Canada. Ale explained the scheduled for the next twenty days and then we all piled into a mini bus to go for dinner at Mongo’s on Hermanos Manchego. As there were sixteen people in the bus including the driver and a boy who normally tries to get people into the bus, it was scrunched. We made a good time of it though. Mongo’s had a variety of foods, but the Mexican caught Lori and Ian’s eye. Lori decided to have the chicken enchiladas, which was very nice and Ian had chilli con carne and coleslaw. He was very excited to finally find some coleslaw.

La Paz Central Plaza Pedro D Murillo Parade for President
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2009-01-29

Next morning we had breakfast with Christine and Catherine. Most of the group decided to try to go on a tour to a local prison. They found out later, that the group had decided not to go due to the $40 per person price and that all that money would go to the criminals. Instead we caught up on their emails and went to lunch at 100% Natural that their Lonely Planet book and Rachel had recommended. Ian had a grande chicken and avocado sandwich and apple, grape and orange juice. They were both surprised when it came out and was the size of a subway foot long. Lori had an avocado stuffed with tuna and a orange and pineapple juice. We purchased some juggling balls for Ian, who decided after seeing the ones Alex bought he wanted to try and sharpen his skills. Lori is secretly hoping that he will start performing and earn them some extra spending cash. We also purchased a small woven reef boat like the one the group had sailed on on Lake Titicaca. We dropped the things off at the hotel and then walked to the Parque Raul Salmon de la Barra. We walked through the Mercado Camacho, which seemed to sell more typical market items and tried to go to the mirador, which was supposed to offer good views of La Paz, but the lady at the gate did not have change, so we couldn’t get in an made the most of if by taking photos from before the gate.

La Paz
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The walk back to the hotel took about an hour as it was uphill and we noticed that the Iglesia San Francisco church was open today, so we decided to go in. The church was like nothing they had ever seen. Instead of stained glass, the areas where this would have been had various statues enclosed by window boxes. The various statues seemed to be people that were locally important, as Lori did not recognise any of the names that were shown. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. The group went to dinner at another place across town that some people had found the night before. Lori had some pizza and Ian had a teriyaki wrap. There was suppose to be a salsa dancing place nearby, but it was closed, so they headed back to the hotel and went out for some drinks at a place that was advertising to be the Hard Rock Café of La Paz, but clearly was not. The group had a good time dancing that night once they got the DJ to play some good music.

Puna to La Paz Puerto Tiquina
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