La Paz, Las Rockas
Trip Start
May 30, 2005
1
87
131
Trip End
Sep 30, 2006
La Paz,
Bolivia
Sunday, March 26, 2006
A couple of hours later we were driving through a town and I was wondering where we were, it turned out to be La Paz! and the journey was only 18 hours longs, and here I thought my Spanish had been getting better, pah.
I found this great Lebanese restaurant a few doors up from my hostel, really great food, although I almost didnīt make it past the first night there
01 Fly a Flag And Be Happy
. I was feeling a little hungry and ordered perhaps too much food. It all arrived and I started eating, within three mouthfuls the altitude sickness kicked in again. I felt sick, dizzy and hot. Looking at the food just made me want to throw up.I almost just walked out leaving enough money to cover the bill, but the feeling passed and I could tentatively continue eating. I hadnīt been effected by the altitude like this when I first arrived in Bolivia, but then Iīd been in the mountains while in Argentina so that must have helped.
La Paz is a great looking city. I wonīt say itīs beautiful, but itīs stunning. Itīs set in a large bowl and you can gaze at the city as it rises 300 meters above the centre on a very steep slope. Of course it smells very similar to many other Bolivian cities, yep, of Urine. They just canīt seem to help themselves.
I did the usual tourist thing, walking around and looking at churches and other buildings and just generally having a nose around. I really prefer other smaller places to cities now and so I didnīt generally get over excited.
After Iīd gone to bed on my first night there I heard a loud bang, like the last time I didnīt think much of it even though my windows shook, and like the last time it was a bomb
02 I Don´t Like These Guys.
. Itīd gone off a few streets away, a second one went off in another part of the city later. Although not nearly as newsworthy as the Bali bombings last year it still had itīs effect here and I canīt believe itīs the second bomb that Iīve heard on this trip.There was a parade taking place through the streets while I was there. It appeared to be a display of military strength as there were all manners of people in uniforms marching up and down and a few fly overs from the air force. I was quite concerned about one group of the military. Their uniform was the most NAZI looking thing Iīve ever seen, perhaps more so that Prince Williams fancy dress of a couple of years ago. They even marched in a very particular way that gave flash backs to Munich in the 1930īs, very disconcerting.
I took a day trip out to the ruins of Tiwanaku, I decided to try and do it on the cheap, for the fun of it. Rather than taking one of the tours. I had to catch a local bus up to the cementary to get the public bus out to the ruins. I saw a little micro with `Cementarioī written on the front, I jumped on and asked to go to the cementary, paying my money and sitting back enjoying the view. I didnīt really know my way round La Paz very well but after 10 minutes I recognised something that was in the wrong direction from the cementary. I shouted after the conductor "This is near Miraflores", a district of La Paz.
"Yes" he replied
"But I want to go to the Cementary"
"Your best getting out and crossing the road to catch another bus"
"What!" I couldnīt believe it, "Stop here"
03 Alternative View of La Paz
. When we came to a stop I asked for my money back as heīd blatently just allowed me on the bus to take my money. He said no and just smiled at me, I was so angry. The best insult that I could come out with was "Mentira!", which just means liar, he must have been shaking in his boots.
I eventually managed it out there without too many other dramas. I made a mistake out here. Talking to someone later, they said that if you donīt take a guide then itīs just a pile of rocks, but with a guide they can tell you and show you many interesting things. To me it was just a pile of rocks and I was mightily disappointed.
The nearby town was really beautiful though, really quiet with a nice square and an interesting church in the corner. It was a bit of a shame that I enjoyed this more than the Tiwanaku ruins themselves.
Usually when moving on to another place itīs with a bus, train, or perhaps a boat. I decided to move onto my new location in a slightly different way this time, by bike! More details in the next post!
