Tag: la paz

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.

We’ve almost caught our breaths in La Paz after two days of walking uphill everywhere and intense lazing about. Time to leave: we’ll fly to Sucre (scheduled at 45 min. vs. the 14 hour bus ride) tomorrow midday.

Our flight from Miami to La Paz was delayed several hours on the tarmac: ICE had a couple people on a list who were “unfortunately not able to continue with us to La Paz,” according to the pilot, and unloading and reloading all the plane’s luggage took as long as one’d expect.

Not detained were Stryper, flying in coach on our cramped little 757 (verified by their tour dates and the cameras not waiting for us in the arrivals area at LPB).

Fortunately, however, our airport pickup from our splurge of a hotel was still there several hours later, and we made it quickly to “Hotel a la Maison.” The tariff is nearly unconscionable for a Bolivian hotel (i.e. not bad), but we wanted to give ourselves a cushy landing while we adjusted to the altitude. It’s done well–the room is huge and kitchen-equipped, the breakfast rolls are deliciously crunchy, and it’s in a quiet and utterly untouristy part of the city (uphill, yes).

The city has been much more relaxed than we expected. No trouble from the shoeshines, despite previous rumors, and very little hassle at all, at least in comparison to Egypt or India. Yes, an unfair comparison. We’ve been to a few small but lovely museums (for roughly $0), missed the opening hours of several others entirely (same price), and had some reasonable Dutch, Surinamese, and Indian food (a few bucks). We probably saw a church or plaza or two, too. Most dramatic, though, are the fleeting views of the city spilling down its encompassing canyon, with cameos from the stunning Illimani.