Peace City - La Paz

Trip Start Jan 28, 2008
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Trip End Sep 18, 2008


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Flag of Bolivia  ,
Thursday, June 19, 2008

After a rocky start (my baggage was "missing" for 24 hours, plus our hostel reservtion was mixed up), we have settled in well. In fact, it finally feels like we are where we always wanted to be, in Latin America. The colours, sounds and smells (slightly dulled due to sinus :( ) are really different to everywhere else we have been this year. The level of povrty is definitely high, but the people are very friendly and genuinely interested in, and proud of showing tourists their country.

That said, La Paz (which translates to Peace City) is a sprawling, polluted and somewhat unnerving city. It was founded in the 1500s by a couple of Spanish warlords whose respective peoples got sick of fighting over gold and silver (well thatīs one story). La Paz is also the highest capital in the world, at 3000 m plus. Perfect for acclimatising for our upcoming high altitude adventures Flying over alpine lakes into Bolivia
Flying over alpine lakes into Bolivia
 . I did have some nausea and pins and needles for two days, but the only visible effect now , on both of us is lack of breath.

At the La Paz airport, whilst we were reporting my missing bag, we spoke to some US expats who live near La Paz. They relaed some scary stories to us about kidnappingd in the city and gave us lots of tourist tips on how to stay out of trouble. A little freaky. We also met Leah, from California, whose bag was also missing. We ran into her again the net day when collecting our baggage, and the three of us made plans to visit Tiahanacu for the weekend for the ancient Winter Soltice festival.

We were also able to spend half a day making a few arrangements for the following weeks in Bolivia, booking domestic buses and flights. Generally we are finding the tourism agencies very helpful and it is cheap to buy tours and transport.

Generally living expenses are also cheap. Our hostel room is about A$5 each per night and dinner is about the same. We both got haircuts (we were looking shabby) and paid A$3 each. Crazy. AND incredibly the womenīs haircut was CHEAPER! Thatīs a first. Mind you, then I returned to the hotel, washed my hair and went back to get a blow dry. (Yes, it is cold here and I am sick!) The blow dry cost more "for electricity", she said! It was more than the trip to the hairdressers. Her boyfriend came in and sat next to me, practising his English. We had some very random and disconnected conversations, but it was the best Iīve ever had in a salon!
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