La Paz with a local view

Busy La Paz streets
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Our journey to La Paz was not a good one, it wasn't because of the fun ferry crossing with our bus across part of Lake Titicaca, nor the bumpy dusty roads on the altiplano (high altitude plains in the andes) where we experienced our first snow shower of our travels. Only moments later we witnessed a horrible sight. Three collectivos (minibus taxis) had collided and the dead and injured were on the roadside or just hanging out of the vehicles. We hoped that it had only just happened as there were no ambulances at the scene and it was at least half an hour later that our bus passed one. Our bus driver briefly slowed his speed down and a sombre atmosphere prevailed for the rest of the journey. Arriving into La Paz through a metropolis called El Alto (altitude 4000m), apparently the fastest growing city in South America. We were amazed by the sprawl of residential areas on crazily steep slopes. We arrived disorientated and popped into an internet cafe to get our bearings and establish contact with Olga, a Bolivian Unitarian friend of my fathers. We arranged to meet her the following day and went hostel hunting. After a few hostels with substandard quality rooms we found a place for the night. Bit noisy and on what seemed to be a permanently gridlocked street but clean and private. We explored the area looking for one of the restaurants mentioned in the guide and stumbled across a good one. Angelo Colonial, full of bizarre antiques, atmospheric lighting and very fine food.

Crossing Lake Titicaca
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The next day we checked out and tried to explore the cultural side of La Paz... and failed.. Mondays are like Sundays. Most places were closed. But the Coca Museum was open, possibly the smallest museum in the world but crammed full of information. It gave us a fascinating insight into how much Coca is part of the culture here. We spent a fair amount of time perusing the many market stalls, including the witches markets with its many weird and downright strange objects. Dried Llama foetuses being one of the more exotic objects! In the evening Olga came to collect us and we moved into the spare room at her flat. It was wonderful to be staying with her and she really made us feel at home. Even though she was on the verge of a big trip to Germany! She took us out for a traditional meal at a local restaurant, all the time telling us all about La Paz and Bolivian life from a locals viewpoint... (She even explained the llama foetuses, they were apparently to be placed in the centre of your new house to ward off evil spirits!) I had Pique Macho an enormous dish which consisted of rice and chips, many pieces of roast meat with sauce. Claire had Silpancho, a delicious combination of  meat, eggs and chips. Easily enough to feed all of us and it only cost a few quid.  After about half an hour of effort and little impact on the mountain of food we decided to get a doggy bag and head back. We tipped the usual ten percent which shocked Olga, it turns out that only a couple of Bolivianos is custom (about 20p) and we had been overly generous so far!

Dried Llama foetuses being one of the more exotic objects

Claire borrows my hat
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The next day Olga took us to an area on the sprawling outskirts of La Paz called Valle de Luna. A bizarre landscape carved by the rain and wind. It really did look like a lunar landscape though it was a bit difficult to appreciate it due to the intense heat and blazing sunshine. Afterwards Olga drove us to a local burger van type place for lunch to try out a local speciality. Cholas, a sandwich the shape of which resembles the colourful women of Bolivia with their many jumpers and skirts. Main ingredient crackling! Yes! The delicious crunchy fatty parts of a hog roast! It was sooo tasty. Then Olga took us to meet an Unitarian friend. One of the few in Bolivia, he was an artist and was very friendly, showing us the art that he created and discussing the meanings of the pictures. When he heard that we were on our honeymoon he insisted that we take a picture with us as a present. He asked Claire to choose one randomly and then signed it for us. The picture was of a rock, sounds bizarre yet the context was that it was the one used by David to slay Goliath. Anyway it's an unusual and beautiful painting which you'll be able to see on the wall in our house when we return. Back in La Paz Olga needed to do some official stuff and so took us with her to the bureaucratic area as there are several galleries and museums close by. However, the Bolivian Police/Army had decided to block of all the streets leading into this area. No problem for Olga she just strode up to the barricades and talked her way through, insisting that we were on our way to an important meeting with the Department of Tourism. It was quite an intimidating situation with all the armed police around looking very serious! Anyhow we got through and headed off to the Ethnic Museum, turns out there was an exhibition on feather headdresses that made quite an impact on us. The most splendid, colourful feather costumes. some were several metres high and would have put the ladies hats at the races to shame!

View of El Alto/La Paz sprawl from the bus
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Afterwards we met up with Olga (it's so much more difficult without mobile phones!) to shop for a special baked bread face that is traditional for the day of the dead celebrations. Unfortunately we couldn't find the right one and got caught in the most intense hailstorm imaginable. The streets turned white in minutes, it caused floods. We sheltered but still got soaked, until Olga got us some Anoraks! We found our way home via several collectivos and arrived back at the flat soaked. Olga was leaving the next morning very early for Germany so she was rushing around like mad sorting things out last minute but she still found time to invite her cousin around to talk to us about our plans to cycle the death road. He worked for one of the companies running the downhill tours and was really sound, so we went ahead and arranged to do that the next day with them. Sounded totally cool, he even convinced Claire that it wasn't just for downhill adrenalin junkies!

The heart of Bolivian Democracy, note the curious uniforms of the guards!
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Read all about our downhill biking adventure in our next blog..