The Peace
Trip Start
Sep 09, 2009
1
21
39
Trip End
Jun 30, 2010
La Paz, Bolivia
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
So if anyone ever tells you not to go to La Paz, dont listen, and if you ever listen to a word I say, go to La Paz. "The Peace" is an amazing city. Often quoted the highest capital in the world, it is neither the capital nor the highest city, but is so high that you dont need to chew coca leaves to feel that you are floating in the clouds. Itīs nestled in a crater so large that geeks should be making stories about how aliens landed there thousands of years ago. Like many third world cities this place has sadly expanded with an outer skin of slum, but this is impressive in the fact that the dare devil slumsters build their mud abodes on canyon cliff faces. Ballsy, but i wouldnt want to be there in an earthquake.
This is the epicentre of Bolivia, a place that has had more governments than years since the conquest. A famous legend says that one mother of a bolivian president said "if i knew he was going to be president, then I would have sent him to school"
Spiderman enjoying a long island ice tea
. Say no more, this place has worse politics than Italy (but unfortunatley no parliamentary fights ensue as they are at altitide).La Paz is a hilly winding inferno of cobbled alleys, collonial architecture, and is full of old wide Bolivian grans with charlie-chaplain hats and two plaits to their waists.
To celebrate this great city we thought there was nothing better than to find a nice cultural spot for dinner, fine wine, and meeting some locals. "Olivers travels" seemed the perfect place. Lonely planet described it as a 100% fake Irish pub, full of bacon, eggs and banter, so it seemed the perfect plece to start. The locals were replaced by Chris and MIchelle, from haringay, who were working in the pub. Our evening proceeded with their scary tales of "the death road", as they filled our pants with horrific stories. The only way to deal with this was a few cocktails and a spot of dressing up. We proceed to the dressing up cupboard and cue - 15 spidermans slithering around La Paz, girls as cinderella and little bo peep, taxiing around various night spots, and the rest as they say is history (partly because we cant remember)...
