| Dec 8, 2005 - La Paz, Bolivia
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 | The first look at La Paz (upper section) from the bus
| | A mountain and the road
| | The majestic Mt. Illimani, and the road that descends into La Paz
| | The real La Paz, with highrises, and Illimani again
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 | More from the road
| | And another for good measure
| | Plaza Pedro D Murillo in La Paz
| | Another of the plaza
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| At an altitude of about 3500m, La Paz is the highest capital city in the world. However, technically it is not really the capital of Bolivia, even though it says that on all the maps and everything. Sucre is the official capital. So I have no idea why La Paz is famous for being the highest capital in the world, but it is. The drive in from Copacobana is thrilling, as La Paz sits in a deep valley 500m below the "altiplano", which is the high plains here, where the airport is. So you arrive and look over a cliff and think you are seeing the city. It is beautiful and surrouded by massive snow-capped peaks. You start taking all the pictures from the bus window, and then eventually round another large corner, and the real city reveals itself to you as a sprawling mess of buildings in a deep cavernous hole. In some ways, it sorta resembles a big full bowl of cereal.
While being a little dirty, a little congested, and a little dangerous, I really like La Paz, and was bummed to only have a few days there. We all checked in to two hotels right near each other, and set out for some dinner and exploration of the city. Nothing of much signficance happened for the rest of the day, we just got to see some of the city and experience some of the nightlife.
The next day ended up being a slightly boring day of logistics and planning. Let me try to explain, and this may sound familiar to some of you. Basically, the big presidential elections are here in Bolivia on December 18th. Last time there was an election, and at times since then, Bolivia has been a bit unstable with protests, riots, roadblocks, transportation strikes, etc. In the last election the local favorite who was way ahead in the polls, who is very anti-american and pro Coca and somewhat of an illiterate but kinda good for the people depending on how you look at it, was expected to win. Then the US ambassador came out and said that if he wins, all US aid to Bolivia would be cut. Miraculously he ended up losing by a large margin. Now he is running again, and the people are behind him. On my Lake Titicaca tour there was a Bolivian man. I asked him what he thought about the situation and me being there and stuff, and he said nothing should happen until after the elections, if at all, because people want to see how it turns out first. Well, he was wrong. Around the city of Oruro, which is the main transport hub to all points of the country, there are major roadblocks and nobody can get through to other locations. There are also rumors that all the borders are closed or will be closed.
In La Paz, everything was fine and safe and nothing was happening. However I have to get to Uyunni in the Southeast to get a tour of the Salt Desert there. As I said, I am also on a very tight and rushed schedule to get to Mendoza by the 20th to meet Harris. But to get to Uyunni usually we have to travel through Oruro, which is impossible right now. So today consisted of figuring out my options, a bit of exploring the city along the way, and not much else until night. There are a few other people in my hostel in the same position as me, so we decided to go at it together. So for now, the plan is to take a flight out of La Paz tomorrow to the city of Sucre, and then travel overland from there to Uyuni, and I will have 3 other friends with me. Once in Uyuni, I'll be back on schedule. From there I will cross overland to Argentina via Villazon and La Quiaca, and all will be good. That is, if the borders are open. If not, I will try a much smaller border crossing through the salt desert into Chile at San Pedro, and travel down from there. If none of this works, I should be able to get a flight out of the country, becuase it is not the police or government closing the borders, it is the protesters.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier entry, but at first I was sorta bummed to be rushing through Bolivia on this leg of my trip. But I think its all working out for the best now. In addition to all this political situation stuff, it is the rainy season in Bolivia and a very bad time to be travelling here for there are frequent delays and cancellations of buses (only 5% of Bolivian roads are paved), and a lot of the touristy stuff like trekking are mnot as good now. So when I cmoe back through in April or May I will take even more time here and do all the things I couldn't do now, like trekking, jungle tours, and riding a bike down the Death Road, which I still hear is fantastic. |
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