LA PAZ

11-15/05/2011

The views of La Paz from El Alto are amazing, we reach the city at 7am. It's basically a valley, the city centre is down below and then the city expands upwards on all sides. It's freezing during the night but the daytime gives us lots of sun. La Paz is incredibly hectic, filled with shoe shine boys, people yelling out destinations from small micros which are always cramped, and cholitas selling all sorts of stuff on the roads.

We stay at the Jach'a Inti Hostel (B$70 for a double room) close to the mercado de brujas (witch's market - lots of dead animal fetuses used to bring good luck, and magic powders too such as the "separador" and "vendedor" powders). The hostel is spacious and has the hottest water we've found in Bolivia so far. We meet Lucie, a french girl who is waiting for her boyfriend who's coming from a wild life refuge close to Santa Cruz. She joins us that evening in our first Bolivian peña experience - a peña suggested by some Bolivian guys we meet on the street. Typical Cumbia music and drunk people - it's insane the amount of alcohol they down in just a few hours! It seems the goal is to get as drunk as possible in the shortest amount of time!

We visit the Cathedral, the Iglesia San Francisco, the park and have some great breakfasts and lunches at the Mercado Lanza. Hot api with pastel is great for breakfast especially when its cold. Api is a purple or white corn drink, while pastel is a deep fried tortilla filled with cheese.

Our last night in La Paz we meet Ana Carola (contacted through couchsurfing). We have a yummy hamburger on the steet and a drink in a reknown pub (forget the name). She's great, tells us all about her life, we have a nice chat about Bolivia and we try to give her useful hints for her trip to Europe next year.

We decide to leave Coroico and the northern part of Bolivia for our return trip, and to move on directly to Lake Titicaca and then Peru.