La Paz
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2007
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Trip End
Oct 27, 2007
La Paz,
Bolivia
Saturday, October 13, 2007
La Paz was very different than anywhere that we have been previously! It was enourmous and some of the areas appeared to be quite wealthy (well, the areas that surrounded the embassies of other countries!). Busy, busy city!!
It said in the guide book that you canīt get lost in La Paz... "If you get disorientated, just head downhill." Didnīt prove to be true for us though! We werenīt sure where we were, so we headed downhill, (as the guide book said!) we had been walking along the same road for 15 minutes before we realised that we did know where we were, because we had walked down the same road the day before, but we hadnīt recognised it because we were on the other side!!!! DOH!!
We visited the Coca Museum, which was fascinating! The history of coca in South America goes back for 1000īs of years. The Inkas used to worship the coca plant as if it were a god. Mama coca, as the Inkas called it was used in every aspect of their lives. In the everyday, it was chewed with an alkaline to release its properties that can increase productivity and combat altitude sickness. (The only reason that the spanish catholics, after invasion reversed thier descision to ban the chewing of coca leaves, related to keping quiet the slaves when they worked 48 hour shifts without breaks!!! ) They used it in ceremonies and also in surgery! When European doctors were still hitting people over the head or getting them drunk before operating on them, the Inkas knew that coca had a anesthetic effect and used it in brain surgery!!!!
We also leaned about the very long and complicated process of converting coca into cocaine and also the very complicated political and social process that has accompanied it!
Charlie bought some coca leaves to try chewing, ended up with a numb mouth and a funny taste in her mouth, but not really much else. Jo bought a Pacha Mama (AKA Mother Earth), an Inka god, that they prayed to (and people still do today) for good health, money, fertility and good luck...
Highlights of La Paz:
The Coca Museum
The Museum of the History of Musical Instruments (we saw panpipes that were bigger than us)!
Witchcraft market - More alternative health, lots of lotions & potions but also drieed Llama feotus - Which brings long life. We found these pretty horrific, they were at all stages of development some even with fur. After inquiring we larnt that llamas arenīt killed for the feotus but dried & kept when a llama is killed and they discover it is pregnant (still doesnīt make you feel any better really!)
Great food - i.e. more than 1 choice of vegy food in a restaurant!!!
Organic cafes
Getting lost (off the map)and stumbling across the bus station (which we needed to find!)
Getting drunk on beer and Pisco Sours in a bar called, Mongoīs, near Mira Flores.
Were certain there isnīt any where in this city we havenīt walked... On reflection Bolivia isnīt as poor as youīd imagine & actually seems "richer" in many ways than what weīve seen so far of peru?
