It’s our last night in La Paz, and I can’t believe Daniel Harris described what we have done as “intense lazing around.” Pfff. DH’s idea of “taking it easy” somehow involved more than four hours (!) a day of some of the most intense walking I have ever done. Friends, this is some extremely high and extremely hilly country. You lose your breath just going to the bathroom! It is, however, totally lovely. I’ve been amazed at how peaceful it has been here. Apparently Egypt was just lousy with tourist touts and harassment, but La Paz has been a remarkably hassle free place. And, unlike Cairo, no one has yelled “fuck you, American dogs!” (at least that we know of) yet, so that’s a plus. As a down: there are no pyramids. And quite frankly, not that much to do, which is ok, given that it takes hours to walk anywhere with the hills and the altitude.
We haven’t been doing too much authentic Bolivian eating yet, partly due to a misguided trip to the ATM which resulted in very large notes. For anyone that has ever traveled or lived in South America, a very annoying fact of life is that no one ever has small change– really– and getting it can be extremely difficult, especially in a country like Bolivia where everything costs roughly 2 dollars. I somehow had blacked this part of the Chilean experience out of my mind, but here it is again! We did eat at a Bolivian vegetarian buffet today (sorry, Mom, and yes, Daniel got some meat this afternoon), which I enjoyed, but left DH feeling very hungry.
Also today was the Museum of Musical Instruments, which was bizarre and wonderful. Pictures of Daniel playing a harmonium to follow….
Tomorrow we depart for Sucre and Potosi. Really looking forward to seeing more of colonial Bolivia.
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