After 3 amazing weeks in Peru we crossed over to Bolivia and made our way to La Paz.
We made arrangements in Puno to get a bus across the border, which was no big affair as long as you have your passport. You do have to queue to get stamped out of Peru and then walk across the road to another queue to get stamped into Bolivia, so it does take about 2 hours.
After a long drive, the sight of La Paz sprawling out before us was a welcome one:
Our hostel this time is another Wild Rover, the old reliable! It's really central with great wifi and of course one of the best bars in town.
La Paz is steeped in history and has so many stories attached to it, we loved just walking around and discovering something new around every corner - and there are LOTS of corners!
My favourite part was a walking tour with Red Cap. The tour is free, you just need to tip your guide (and they really deserve it).
We walked around the city for 4 hours learning all about places like San Pedro prison, a prison with about 7 guards outside and no guards inside. The prisoners run the show themselves, including rule enforcement and punishments. They also have to pay rent inside (as you can imagine, accommodation varies greatly depending on what you can afford) and they can even rent out their cells to make some cash. Up until a few years ago tourists were allowed in to have a look and prisoners had jobs as guides, but after a few "incidents" that practice stopped!
We took a stroll through the massive market where hundreds of Cholitas work all day selling absolutely everything. By all accounts these Cholitas are forces to be reckoned with and you don't want to get on their bad side! Our guide explained that you should buy everything from the same Cholita, if you try to spread the love and buy oranges from one and bananas from another for example, they will both be terribly offended and will let you know all about it! And of course no Cholita would be seen dead without her bowler hat:
We knew they were strong chicas when we saw them trudging up hills carrying bags of potatoes in one hand, a bag of carrots in another and a baby on their backs, all while balancing a bowler hat on their head and having a gossip with their friends, but we were still shocked to hear that Cholita Wrestling is a huge sport in La Paz. I can't think of anything more terrifying.
As well as the Cholitas, Shoe Shiners are symbolic characters of La Paz. These guys are to be found working on almost every street and wear balaclavas over their faces so that they are unrecognisable, ashamed to be seen.
A big highlight of La Paz is the witches market. You can't miss it, it's the one with lama foetuses hanging outside every shop! You can find a cure for any ailment, an answer to any question and hope for any situation at the witches market:
There were so many other cool stops along the walking tour, too many to mention them all, but we really felt like we got a sense of the city and the people who live there. One really interesting part was at the parliament buildings.
Bolivia has had over 100 presidents and a very turbulent political past. Each time the people lost faith in their president they stormed his building, killed him, and someone else would declare themselves the new president. They even pushed their enemies off a cliff at Death Road!
And speaking of death road, have look at us!
We took our lives into our hands and booked a tour to mountain bike down the most dangerous road in the world, aptly named Death Road. There are a number of tour operators who do this but Gravity are by far the safest and most professional, they also have the best bikes. We absolutely loved our guide, Mike, who made sure we were safe the whole time and was just an all round nice guy. You really do cycle along the cliff edge with no barriers in most places and you go FAST. I'm going to chalk this one down as an "experience" because I can't say I loved it, but Karen absolutely did, so it's just a matter of different strokes for different folks.
A new road has been opened recently and so the number of deaths on the Death Road has thankfully dropped from an average of 300 a year! I'm just glad we didn't watch this video until the day after:
Next Stop: Rurrenabaque and The Pampas
Fabulous photos Emma
ReplyDelete