Not so peaceful La Paz

La Paz. It means Peace in Spanish. A rather conflicting name for the capital city of Bolivia which seems to be constantly on the go and making lots of noise!


We arrived at 7am after taking the overnight bus from Sucre. Tired and groggy we were soon awoken by the most epic view of the city as the bus made its way down the hill towards the bus terminal and the mist lifted. 

A view with mist...

View from our hostel - without mist!

The guys Id met in Sucre (Jose and Diego) were keen to go to the Mercado del Alto which is one of, if not the, highest market in the world. It only takes place on a Sunday and despite it being the day of rest, they were not going to let me do just that at the hostel. So we dropped our backpacks off and caught a collectivo mini van up the hill - these vehicles are randomly mostly shipped over from Japan still with their previous names on the side which the Bolivians don't seem to mind. The journey there was cramped as they ram as many people as they can in. Jose got stuck behind a mama chola and her baby so he spent the entire journey making faces at the child, much to the amusement of the entire bus. 


The market was huge and a little overwhelming given the lack of sleep we had all had. The guys revelled in the numerous stalls selling illegal DVDs whilst I was walking around like a zombie. After an hour or so, I decided I couldn't hack it any more and decided to return to the hostel. The boys were a little apprehensive letting me go on my own at first - Diego blamed their Catholic guilt given they are both Latin - but they soon agreed when they realised that there were car and pet sections to the market which they were both gagging to see. So off I went, weaving in and out of the locals standing out like a sore thumb in my gringo clothing. I managed to make it back to the road where the mini van had dropped us off but the road layout was so chaotic (think spaghetti junction) I couldn't figure out where to catch the bus back. Cue lots of frantic questioning of locals, numerous wrong directions returned, and a slightly panicked me. After boarding one van, and then realising it went the wrong way, I eventually found one that went back to the hostel. A journey that in total took one hour and fifty minutes when it should have only taken fifteen...I blame my tiredness and the Bolivians sense of direction which according to my Lonely Planet guide is not good. Apparently rather than say they don't know the way they just give out fake directions instead?! Nice. 


That evening we found out (way too late) that we missed the Cholitas Wrestling that took place on a Sunday in the same place as the market we went to earlier that day. It is a wrestling show but with a Bolivian twist of having Cholitas (the indigenous dressed women I told you about in a previous blog) wrestling each other. We were all devastated as it was supposed to be really funny to watch, especially as they apparently start each fight with the tune Eye of the Tiger! I recall watching a series which Jonathan Dimbleby did on South America and he went to the same match and actually donned a mask and got involved! hilarious. 


The weather during our stay in La Paz was cold and damp. I think at one point, much to the amusement of you all back home, it was even colder than the UK! I was not happy. 


The almost constant torrential downpours meant that the Death Road bike tour (basically a bike ride along a road which is famous for having vertical drops) Id wanted to do since deciding to come to Bolivia, was also out of the question due to bad road conditions. 


This set back along with the cold Id caught whilst on the Uyuni tour meant I was feeling miserable. The altitude was also causing me grief - La Paz is in some places up to 4100 metres above sea level. 


To try and cheer me up, we went to the El Mercado de las Brujas also known as the Witches Market. Here they sell all sorts of local artisan items which us tourists lap up, with the exception of the dried llama foetuses which were just off-putting in sight and smell but I still felt compelled to catch them on camera. Apologies for those with sensitive stomachs...

Take your pick...

One with fur! gross

The effort to cheer me up worked. I came away having bought numerous Bolivian mementos, a lot of which (excuse the pun) Id managed to barter on price on despite them already being worth very little in sterling. 


En route back to the hostel we went past the Basilica of San Francisco and some interesting art work:

Oh before I forget, I must tell you what happened before we actually left for the witches market. Basically, we went to leave the hostel and realised that due to a recent power cut (which happened after I used my hair dryer - coincidence?!) the front gate to the hostel wouldn't open as it was power controlled. The side door was also locked but with a padlock. However not one of the hostel staff could find the key. Reassuring. Rather than wait to find it, one staff member decided to get a saw and cut the lock of?! We all looked on bemused at the ridiculous event unfolding in front of us. Diego suggested they use a card to pick the lock on the other door, the cleaner obliged and actually succeeded! 


The door saga didn't end there though. On our return from the market I went to open the door to our dorm and the handle came off in my hand! We wouldn't have minded but it took the hostel almost a day to get it fixed...not great when you have people wanted to access their belongings. This and the fact that pretty much every room within the hostel was full of people smoking meant I didn't really enjoy my stay at this hostel as I stank of stale smoke the whole time. The owners said it was a "party" hostel and that's why they had no rooms where people weren't allowed to smoke. Fine, if it was a party hostel, but this most certainly wasn't although it wanted badly to be. Idiots. 


During our many trips our and about in La Paz, we couldn't help but notice loads of shoe shine men. Nothing strange there I hear you say, except most of them were wearing ski masks which made them all look like bank robbers! After some investigation we discovered that these men (and boys) are called Lustrabotas wear ski masks to avoid the social stigma of their jobs. Very strange considering I've seen many Bolivians do worse jobs and not wear a mask...


In the run up to my visit to La Paz, I had read a book called Marching Powder which is based on the true story of a convicted English drug trafficker called Thomas McFadden who ran tours in La Paz`s infamous San Pedro prison. It was a fascinating read, not least because San Pedro has got to be the world most corrupt prison and as such the things that go in the prison are just unbelievable. The ilegal tours had only recently stopped due to an unfortunate incident with a tour group that took place late last year. This didn't really impact me as I wasn't interested in entering the prison, but I did want to go and see the outside of it to see if it really did look how Id imagine it would. The public square in front of the prison was much prettier than Id imagined and the prison from the outside did not look as big as it seemed in the book. It was strange to be there, having read so much about the goings on there but I'm glad we went.

View from the square of the outside of the prison 

The square

The sign above the door gives an indication to the "rules" of the prison - rapists not welcome.

Walking back to the hostel we popped into La Paz`s Museum of Contemporary Art. I've made it a bit of a mission to visit most of these museums in South America, and so far have been impressed with the ones I've visited in Argentina and Chile. The museum itself was in a beautiful albeit slightly dilapidated old colonial building. The pieces I liked most were of Ernesto "Che" Guevara who is often mistaken for being Cuban when in fact he was Bolivian. 

This picture was made up of dominoes!

View of La Paz through the stain glass window

The inside of the musuem

Overall, I found La Paz to be quite chaotic and overwhelming, not to mention cold and damp. I was therefore quite glad to be heading to Copacabana which, whilst still in Bolivia, had the sound of its Brazilian beach namesake making it sound warm and enticing!


Did you know?: Bolivia is now the first Latin American country to not have any presence by McDonalds and the first country where the restaurant (I use this word loosely) chain has had to close its branches. I read this article which made me smile - especially the bit about hygiene...