La Paz

A lazy morning, we all wander the 10 blocks into town for breakfast at the Hari Krishna place. They do massive bowls of fruit, muesli, yogurt and honey. We buy a bus ticket to La Paz, a 4 hour journey for 15 Bs (£1) but when we return with our bags we're given our money back and the tickets taken off us. "Blockades," we're simply told. We believe it.

Only one other company was still selling tickets to La Paz, but for an over inflated price of 23 Bs (£1.50) to run the blockades. Not wanting to hang around any longer in this ugly town we take it. Half an hour and a couple of sales people later we experience our first blockade, some 25 people sat across the road. It didn't look terribly impressive but it served it's purpose. We use a dirt track that followed the road to navigate around.

Another hour and we encounter our second blockade. The same amount of people, plus support vehicles and they'd also peppered the road with thousands of giant rocks and boulders rendering it unusable. We followed a lorry and another coach off road for they seemed to know where they were going through the secluded desert. Getting back on the road proved tricky for it was on a lip / rise. If we were to attack it straight on we would ground the coach. So instead we join it like a slip road under the watchful eye of many onlookers and seriously risked rolling the bus. Luckily we were okay and continued onto La Paz.

We arrived on the outskirts of La Paz at an altitude of 4,100m which gave spectacular panoramic views of the city centre sprawl below. A taxi from the Bus Station to La Solerio Hostel in the centre of town cost 10 Bs (66p). Sean and Monika got a double room together and I moved into a 4 bed dorm for 25 Bs per night (£1.65).

We strolled around the busy narrow market streets in the evening, noting that amongst the colourful handicraft stalls were stalls selling lotions, potions and unborn Llama foetuses. Apparently if you bury one under the floorboards of your new house it brings you good luck! Just walking around the hilly cobbled streets is hard work for it's too easy to forget you're at 3,700m!

For dinner we found, and fell in love with, the Angelo Colonial Cafe with main meals for 30 Bs (£2). The interior decor is littered with old pistols, cameras & paintings and come dark it is lit solely by candle light. Beautiful.

Posted by Steve Eynon