La Paz / El Alto

La Paz

After leaving our super hostel, a taxi took us to the bus station. We were hoping for a great bus journey. It was a bit strange that we had to check in our luggage like at the airport. Then we had to walk two floors down to the platforms. Shortly after we arrived at our platform, our luggage was delivered. How? They hung the suitcases from a pulley and lowered them down using a rope from the second floor. It looked quite funny, every few seconds someone almost got hit on the head by a suitcase coming down. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 8:00 PM. At 7:10 PM, a bus arrived and we decided to board it right away. But when it started to reverse at 7:30 PM, we quickly stood up and ran to the driver. Turns out, it was the wrong bus. Luckily, we had some good luck. Shortly before eight o'clock, the right bus arrived and we got on board. The bus was really nice. However, the first two hours were quite bumpy. After about 8,000 bends, it got better and we were able to rest. We arrived right on time, 30 minutes before our destination. We drove through El Alto, which is the 'suburb' of La Paz. It is a two-lane road with dirt tracks on both sides, full of street stands, shops, car workshops, toilet bowl sellers, and more. About 90% of the houses are not fully constructed. The reason is simple: once a house is completed, you have to pay the full tax. As long as the construction is ongoing, it's easier. That's why you see a lot of houses with a wall on the first floor and a finished house built on top of it.

A bit further ahead, we finally got our first glimpse of La Paz. It was unbelievable, a huge valley full of those half-finished, clay-colored houses as far as the eye could see. We were amazed by how everything worked. Everywhere you could already see the typical cable cars, it's a great system.

After we arrived at the hostel by taxi, we already met our 'family' for our Christmas dinner. We were a great group. From the hostel workers to the travelers, we all got along really well. Marco, our cook, prepared a fantastic Christmas dinner for us on December 24th. There were about 14 of us at a huge table. In the background, typical Christmas music was playing, candles were lit, and we sat down. We had a traditional Bolivian Christmas meal. A young Bolivian chef prepared everything for us, under the supervision of Marco. For the starter, we had a peanut soup with pasta and vegetables. For the main course, it was a kind of chicken roll filled with cheese, egg, and wild garlic. It was served with sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomato, and spinach. And for dessert, we had chocolate mousse. It was delicious, and all for 10 francs.

As an appetizer, we had a peanut soup with pasta and vegetables. As the main course, we had a kind of chicken roll filled with cheese, egg, and wild garlic. It was served with sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomato, and spinach. And for dessert, we had chocolate mousse. It was delicious, and all for 10 francs.

On the second day, we went to the famous 'Cholitas Wrestling' in the evening. Women fighting in the wrestling ring.

We had to sit in the front row, of course. It started with two amateur fights, like the opening act. After each fight, the level got higher.

The atmosphere was intense, especially among the locals. They started shaking empty plastic bottles, popcorn, and cola if they didn't like someone. I really didn't like one of the fighters because she fought unfairly. Of course, it was all part of the show. After she finished her round around the audience, I shouted 'Boo' at her. She turned around and came towards me, about 5 centimeters away from my face. She was big, had only two teeth left, and looked angry. She asked, 'Why?' I said 'Boo' again. Shortly afterward, she slapped me. It became quite warm on my left cheek pretty quickly. Of course, the whole hall went wild and everyone laughed. But she didn't really mean any harm, she just didn't like being shown like that. However, the person next to me had a much worse luck, they got a kiss on their cheek from her. So, I fared better with the slap, haha. After about an hour, it slowly ended. They stood in the ring for a while and then they left. The audience went crazy and started throwing objects.

After 2 and a half hours, we left. It was long enough. We then saw the valley of La Paz at night, absolutely impressive.

The next day, our friends from Brazil came to our hostel. We met them in Florianopolis, Brazil (Matei & Rachel). We asked Julito from the hostel if he could guide us on a tour. We were a group of 8 people and we set off. First, we walked around the city, visited the Presidential Palace, various parks, and the old town. After that, we took the cable car to El Alto. The new Austrian/Swiss cable cars are really comfortable. It's weird to sit in them without skis though. From the 'top station', we had a great view again.

Then we went to the 'Witch Market'. They sell items for rituals, including llama and alpaca fetuses, various herbs, and even shrunken heads.

There were also small houses where the witch predicted the future using various methods. Some of the women in our group really wanted to go in there. We ended up with a male witch. He predicted the future using coca leaves, by knocking them on the table and then reading the leaves. We both said, 'We don't believe in this nonsense!' But after the second prediction, we got curious anyway. We had a great future ahead of us, a safe trip, and a boy in the next few years, haha. Next, it was the turn of our friend from New Zealand. After throwing the leaves, the witch remained silent. He started shaking his head.. It seemed that he wouldn't have much luck in his travels, and love also didn't look good for the next year. But if he brings a rabbit and a red rooster, he can perform a ritual with them and then let the rabbit and rooster go free, and they will carry his bad luck away. He was really depressed afterwards and desperately asked where he could buy those animals.

In the following days, we wandered around the city again, went on a free walking tour. One day, we also visited the Valle de la Luna. It's actually relatively simple to get there. You stand on the side of the road, squinting your eyes, trying to recognize the destination among the 20 different signs on the minibuses' windshields.

And then we made it and paid about 50 rappen for a short bus ride. On the way to the Valley, La Paz showed itself from its most beautiful side.

We visited the Moon Valley for about 2 hours and then returned.

On the next day, Julito, who had also joined us on the tour, invited us for his birthday. We drove for about 2 hours into the countryside. After 10 minutes, we stopped to pick up a dog. The owner wasn't allowed to have a dog in her new apartment, so she gave the dog to Julito, who then took it to his parents' farm. The dog was a big goofball. He climbed over everything, front and back, up and down. He was quite a big puppy and very strong.

After 2 long hours, we arrived. Julito's father warmly welcomed us. And as a welcome drink, something special was waiting for us. He brought two cows. We 'made' Schnapps in a glass and then he filled the glass with milk straight from the cow.

With that, he served homemade soft cheese. We then built a doghouse for Roco (the dog).

With a leash and a stake in the ground, we thought it would be enough for him. But when the first cow passed by, he rushed to it and the leash quickly broke.

After that, we got a rope, like for a cow. There should have been a rope, SHOULD HAVE BEEN.. But instead, he just cleaned the collar. Yes, he still needs to get used to country life. We then grilled, drank, and told some stories.

It was fascinating to experience country life. Of course, we didn't have anything for Julito because we didn't know him very well. But we did know that he really likes self-made bracelets. So, after his birthday, we went on a search for some string. You wouldn't believe how complicated it is to find string in La Paz. EVERYONE we asked said with great conviction, 'Ah, dude, sure, just a little bit further up ahead.' They kept sending us further and further. I was getting really annoyed because everyone kept sending us away. After half a day of walking, asking, cursing, and almost crying, we finally got closer to the place we were looking for. It was a huge market where they sell everything from toilet seats to shoes. But when we asked for string there, they shook their heads and denied it as if we were asking for cocaine. Eventually, we found it with a lot of luck. Hallelujah, that was one of the most complicated things we have experienced in South America so far!!!!!!

We then checked out and checked into a 5-star hotel. We treated ourselves for New Year's Eve.

It was just amazing. We had an XXL king-size bed with a view over La Paz. The whole day, we just stayed in the room and did nothing. The next day, on New Year's Eve, we were invited to have dinner at our old hostel. The atmosphere wasn't really great, though, and we don't know why. The guests were all new, and they formed small groups. After dinner, they suddenly stood up and left, no one knew where they were going. But we had a great time with the hostel staff. We also gave Julito our self-made bracelets/birthday present. It was unbelievable how excited he was, he almost jumped for joy 

At 11:30 PM, we decided to go back to the hotel and maybe watch the fireworks from there. That's what we did, and it was just AMAZING.

The next day, we continued our journey to Copacabana. More in the next blog.

See you soon

Ernesto y Muriel

Next Stop: Copacabana