| Apr 28, 2006 - La Paz, Bolivia
| (click to enlarge)
 |  | (click to enlarge)
 | | (click to enlarge)
 | | show all 11 | | The statues in San Francisco plaza | | San Francisco church | | In Lucy's magical fruit smoothie stand with Dan, Carmin, and Jason | | |
| Back to the craziest city on Earth, and I was happy to be there. Not only because for the first time in a few days I would actually be stationary for more than one night in a row, but because La Paz is just so unique and so different than other places that anything you do there is fascinating. You can read my entry about La Paz my first time around back in December for more info.
After a very cold night on the bus with no heating from Potosi, I got into La Paz about 5am and took a taxi over to El Solario, the same hostel I stayed in last time, where I had arranged to meet back up with Carmin and Dan. I had just spent 42 of the last 62 hours on a bus, and I was happy to crash into a bed and sleep as soon as I got there. Brian was supposed to be there as well, but his bad luck just continued on the trip, with Bolivia being especially cursed for him. Without getting too into it, he managed to get stuck at a tiny remote border town in eastern Bolivia on the Brazilian border with beuracracy preventing him from travelling in either direction. So while the three of us had our joyful reunion, Brian was stranded for about 4 days in that town, unable to continue further into Bolivia nor return to Brazil. Its these kind of crazy stories I am equally glad I never encountered, yet a bit disappointed to just for the spontanaiety of it and to see how I would have reacted, and would would have come of it. But yeah, I was happy to be in La Paz.
Later on Friday, once I woke up again, I met back up with Dan and Carmin. As it turns out, the two cool teenage Brits that Carmin and I met at the Bolivian/Argentine border a few days ago, Duncan and Jason, were also staying in El Solario. So the 5 of us set out for a day of walking around, starting with fresh smoothies from Lucy's smoothie stand. In the markets of most of these countries all similar items are grouped together, however counterintuitive that is to supply and demand, and so La Paz had an entire row of colorful smoothies to choose from every morning. Lucy became the stand of choice, and we stayed loyal to her.
Since Dan's, Carmin's, and my trip were winding down, we tried to fit some more touristy things into this weekend in addition to the typical stroll around, eat food, and hang out. There was a really great group of people at El Solario this time around, which both made this task easier and harder at the same time. We spent plenty of time in the witch's market where they sell lama fetuses which is supposed to be used for luck (or in spells that give you luck, can't remember), the black market where you can buy loads of clothes and accessories for cheap, and the tourist market. This market is where you get all the toursity goods you could want, mostly made of alpace wool which is soft, warm, and delightful. We all made a good deal of purchases to make sure our packs would be stuffed to the brim onour flights home. Bolivia is the best place in South America to do your souvenir shopping anyway since it is just so cheap. I got a good amount of alpaca tops that I am excited to wear in the New York winter.
The night time was more typical for this trip, especially in La Paz. Just to put it out there, you can buy a 3-gallon or so gas tank size container of local rum for about 2 dollars. James was another teenage Brit we befriended and started hanging out with us, as well as a pair of Canadians and some other stragglers around the hostel. The boys were very fond of Texas Hold 'Em, so I finally learned this game and enjoyed it, though did not do so well.
The only other happening of note in these 3 days was that on Saturday we walked to the San Pedro prison. And now I don't really know how to describe this. The best thing I can say is just to read the book Marching Powder, which is all about this unique place. We all passed the book around and read it during the trip and it blew my mind. Truly the most bizarre prison on the planet. It is run just like a little city, where all inmates need to pay a fee when sent there, and then rent apartments and pay for everything they have and use. They are able to open businesses like restaurants and small shops in there, and many of the inmates actually live with their families in there, so that at any time you see women and children walking in and out of the jail, also known as their home. The richest of prisoners are even able to leave the prison and go out on special nights to nightclubs or a movie. And this is all just a taste of what goes on in San Pedro, but I don't want to start getting into too much of it. Just trust that whenever you would naturally say is simply impossible, is quite the norm in this strange place.
A part of this weekend was also planning a bike trip down The World's Most Dangerous Road, also known as The Death Road, that Dan and I were going to do together on Monday. So Sunday night was an electric grand finale of a sendoff to Carmin, who was taking his 25-hour bus ride to Lima and to the airport Monday morning, while Dan and I were trying at the same time to get some rest for our trip the next day as well.
Sine this weekend was all about planning, I give you a look at my current plans (found in a few emails of that time) for the remainder of my tirp. I get back from the bike ride at night, and head off for a jungle tour the next day. After that I may spend a few more days in La Paz, but will soon just book it up to Ecuador straight through Peru, with maybe a day stop somewhere. I`ll have maybe 10-15 days to revisit Cuenca and some friends there. From there it depends on timing, but I will need to get to Quito for my May 25th flight home. If possible, I will fit in a two-day climb of the volcano Cotopaxi a few hours outside of Quito which is supposed to be great and ok for novices to do with a guide. Crazy, its all really gonna end one day. Well, at least until I leave again for 10 weeks of working in the Dominican Republic in mid-June.
And thats it, those are the rest of my plans for now. Hopefully I will have time to throw a few more locations and events in there, but we`ll see. Unfortunately it looks like exploring the coast of Ecuador, which I really wanted to do, is going to be out of the question. Oh well, next time I guess.
And then I`ll be home. As of now I still have that May 25th flight, so I`ll see you there. |
| |
| |
