La Paz

La Paz is apparently the highest capital city in the world at 4000 metres and although the poverty is readily apparent, the city itself is extremely clean and quite beautiful in its own way. Again, despite the ominous introduction – our bus was stalled in traffic alongside a massive outdoor market and as soon as the “gentleman” in the seat in front of ours opened his window, the bus was swarmed with flies - we really enjoyed our time there.
You approach the city on a plateau and then drop down into the “bowl” with multi-level adobe and brick buildings literally clinging to the banks. Our first thoughts (besides “thank god we are finally only minutes from a real toilet….) were “Wow, if an earthquake hits this city…
We had two other travelers (aka tourists) with us on our tour through southern Bolivia, one from Brazil and one from Israel. Liran – from Israel – was very up front about Israeli youth enjoying travel in Bolivia because it is so cheap. For example, we had 3 “hotels” in mind when we arrived; one was $45/night., one $30/night and one $20/night. (All much more expensive than the hostels which are closer to $5/night) We thought that we would at least look at the $20/night hotel, and in fact we ended up staying there. Again, we may have just been caught at a weak moment after that bus ride, but, a double bed and a private bathroom WITH toilet paper – seriously what more does anyone need? Not only that moment of weakness (some may call it withdrawal) Ian ordered a bottle of Bolivian wine on our tour, well, let’s just say that even he has sworn off wine until we get back to Canada - and apparently switched to rum. The good side of Bolivia is that you don't need to waste years going to a pesky university. In only two hours you can get a Doctorate or an engineering degree... stamped, signed, and ready to go...
One caution for those of you that plan to visit La Paz is that on the street, the agreed upon price is never really the agreed upon price, just ask Ian how much it cost him to have his shoes (hiking boots) shined…….. :0)
Well, that’s it for now, tomorrow we tackle “La Cumbre a Coroico” by bike which is better known as the “road of death. Is it a bad sign when you have to sign a liability waiver and record your blood group before they let you ride? Hmmm……Stay tuned.