The Craziness of La Paz at Carnival

Trip Start Dec 16, 2007
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Trip End Jul 09, 2008


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Flag of Bolivia  ,
Sunday, February 3, 2008

So we crossed into Bolivia in time for Carnival. Apparently La Paz is second to Rio in craziness yay!!! So basically what this means is, is that any second you are not in your hotel you will be soaking wet and full of shaving cream and crowded in masses of people like a can of sardines. People everywhere like I``d never seen before. Literally everyone, both adults and children, had large water guns and bags full of water balloons which they would pelt at everyone...or drop from the tops of buildings...I have the bruises to prove it. It was absolutely insane. The water wasnt too bad but it was when you got sprayed with shaving cream that was a pain. I have no pictures of this though because there was no way I was getting my camera out. All in all though I had a good time.

The scenery on the drive to La Paz was quite beautiful with rolling hills, glimpses of water and snow capped mountain peaks in the distance Cathedral
Cathedral
 . However, we happened upon some of this water and had to cross it in these little fishing boats because there is no bridge yet. Our bus got floated over on the tiniest wooden platform...Im surprised it didn``t sink. The drive into La Pazwas amazing. The city is in a vally and built up the sides of the mountains...

On my second day I went to the Tiwanaku ruins outside of the city. These ruins are from the oldest civilization in South America which lasted around 2500 years. There were three periods, the first one was the village period which was from 1500 BC to 0 and was primarily a time of agriculture. The second and main phase where they developed technology and knowledge lasted until 750. The final period was one of expansion and they eventually ended up breaking off into different groups. The site housed a fantastic museum with an amazingly preserved monolith and several artifacts such as pots, tools, skulls etc. The ruins themselves were awesome. First we came to this dirt mound and the guide told us it was a 7 layer pyramid....ok...then we walked around the other side where the excavation and restoration were taking place. Wow!!! It was awesome. We also saw the sun gate, some more monoliths, anastronomical observatory and an underground temple with a contiki monolith and several head carvings jetting out of the walls, it was phenomenal. Afterwards we went to the Valley of the Moon which is just these natural formations which look like dried mud...but it was really cool Welcome to Bolivia
Welcome to Bolivia
 .

On my last day in La Paz I decided to brave the insanity and headed to the main square...which had the usual beautiful cathedral and government buildings. Unfortunately since it was a holiday the whole time we were there all the musuems were closed, which was unfortunate because there were definitely a few I wanted to visit. Howver, the Coca museum was open because it is privately owned. Although not on my original list it proved to be quite interesting. It outlined the history and the several uses of the plant in the indiginous Andean culture from socially, culturally, economically, spiritually and medicinally. There was also segments on the cocaine aspect of the plant, and the history of coca cola...and apparently they still use the coca leaf to flavour it...hrmmm. Afterwards we just wandered the streets, got wet and bought some of the great textiles for super cheap prices...next stop Cochabamba.
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