A Refreshing week in La Paz

When our Uyuni tour ended we booked an overnight bus to Las Paz. It was a 12 hour trip over some bumpy roads but we managed to get some sleep and felt pretty good when we arrived in La Paz at 8am. I really like overnight buses because I can sleep anywhere and when I wake up I am in a new place ready to go.

We were picked up from the bus station by Alcides, the owner of the house we stayed at. He gave us a quick drive by tour of the city and then showed us the house. It was a nice, big, comfortable house. After spending 3 days and 3 night on the road to Uyuni with no showers this house was amazing. The 1^st thing I did was take a nice hot shower and put on some new clean clothes. It felt good to be clean again.

After that Mareen and I walked from the house in Sopocachi to the Witch's Market area. La Paz is about 3500 m above sea level so just a simple walk was challenging and it felt like I was jogging. The Witch's Market area of La Paz is basically where all the tourist go. It is a big area with lots of stores selling Bolivian textiles, handicrafts, food etc. There is a small section where you can find stores that sell stuff for witchcraft, such as dead baby llamas. You can also find all the tour agencies selling jungle tours, mountain climbing tours, Uyuni tours etc.

Over the 7 days in La Paz we just took it easy and did a tour to Tiwanaku and a trip to Lake Titicaca and Isla de Sol. For the most part we just took it easy and just explored the city. It is very different from Santiago. 1^st things are much cheaper and the food is much better. One of the best things about La Paz or even Bolivia is lunch. Here you can get a fixed 3 course meal with soup, entree, and dessert for 15 Bolivianos (that's just over $2)!!! So after empanadas and completos in Santiago, this was great.

We also met Alcides' family and they were fun people to hang out with. I had tè con tè with them, which is tea with singani and sugar, and also tried coca leaves. Coca leaves are interesting because you don't chew them or eat them. You just put a bunch (20 leaves) in your mouth and suck on them for 3 or 4 hours. It doesn't have a strong taste or smell and in about 30 minutes you feel its subtle affects. They were also very interested in Tamil food so on the last Sunday Mareen cooked for them. She made rice, chicken curry, spinach, zuccini, and eggplant dishes. Mareen tried to make the food a little spicy but we couldn't find any spicy peppers so she made due with what was available. Even then they thought it was a little hot and we just laughed at them. Alcides' family was surprised at how many ingredients go into making Tamil food and that's when I realized a few things. Tamil food is complicated and hot as hell, and also we eat a lot of vegetables when compared to South Americans.