A city full of craziness! - La Paz

09/01 - 16/01

We arrived in La Paz at night by plane from Uyuni and took a taxi to the hostel. The La Paz airport is located at over 4000m, which gave us a great overview of the city lights on the drive to the lower downtown area.

We spent the first day in La Paz exclusively in the hostel to recover from the 3-day Uyuni tour and fully regain our strength. On our first active day, we naturally took a guided walking tour through the city, where walking guide Danielito told us some bizarre things...

The starting point of the tour was at Plaza Sucre right next to the infamous San Pedro Prison. This prison is unique in that it has no guards - at least not inside the prison walls. There are only 10 guards around the building. The interior is like its own little city. The inmates have to pay for everything themselves (rent, food, clothing, etc.), which has led to the formation of different "neighborhoods" with different businesses. Relatives of the inmates are allowed to visit the prison and even live with the inmates there. For a while, there was also the opportunity for tourists to visit the prison as part of a 'tour'. However, these tours became increasingly unreliable and are now banned. Tours are still offered illegally, but it is strongly recommended not to take them.

The biggest business in the prison is - not surprisingly - cocaine. Since women and children of the inmates can come and go freely, it's no wonder that cocaine ends up on the streets of La Paz. Occasionally, diapers with valuable contents are thrown over the prison walls, which are then collected by couriers outside. Therefore, Danielito strongly advised us never to use falling diapers as a resource!

From the prison, we continued to the 'Rodriguez Market', where the stalls are mainly operated by Cholitas - traditionally dressed Bolivian women with wide pleated skirts, two long braided pigtails, and of course the ridiculously small hat. There are hardly any supermarkets in La Paz because people prefer to shop from their favorite Cholita - called Casera. Once you get all the important groceries at the market, you also have a Casera for each type of food. The Cholitas might seem like poor traditional women, but according to Danielito, most of them have multiple businesses and are relatively wealthy due to having many children - a happy Cholita has at least 8 to 10 children. For example, some Cholitas are owners of nightclubs or other businesses. However, the belief of the Cholitas prohibits them from being lazy even when they are prosperous, which is why the ladies gladly sell their groceries at the market day in and day out.

Right next to the Rodriguez Market is the 'Witches Market', where you can buy all kinds of hocus pocus. Bolivians are very superstitious and it is important to keep Pachamama - Mother Earth - on their side. On this market, there is a solution for every problem - you can buy all kinds of weird stuff, from love potions to llama fetuses. Why the llama fetus? If you want to build a house, it must be buried in the foundation as an offering to Pachamama. The bigger the house, the bigger the offering must be - this is where the dead baby llamas (fortunately not killed, but only brought to the market when they die a natural death) come into play.

But what do you do if you want to build a really big house? asked Danielito. It often happens that homeless people or alcoholics who are not missed are filled with concrete and then buried alive in the foundation. The tour group listened to Danielito with open mouths and wide eyes, hoping he would finally admit that it was a bad joke - unfortunately not, no joke! This practice is of course highly illegal and is punished by the state. However, Danielito gave us some very good advice: never wander through the city alone, completely drunk!

From the witches market, we walked to 'Plaza San Francisco', where a demonstration was taking place. Bolivians love to demonstrate and also use firecrackers to create more noise. Since our arrival in La Paz, we constantly heard loud bangs in the city. Initially, we thought it was gunshots, but during the walking tour, we were enlightened. We crossed the square and entered the 'Mercado Lanza', where we had a small lunch break and strengthened ourselves with avocado sandwiches and freshly squeezed fruit juices - the menu only cost 1.50 euros and tasted excellent.

After the snack break, it started pouring rain. In Bolivia, it's rainy season from November to April and you should always expect heavy rain showers. This one was particularly heavy: the streets turned into rivers in a very short time. However, we had to continue our tour and were soaked in seconds - even the rain protection couldn't help. We took one of the many minibusses to the legal cemetery 'Cementario General'. This cemetery is characterized by the fact that the graves are not on the same level next to each other, but are stacked on top of each other for space-saving reasons.

From there, we took the cable car to the district 'El Alto' - the 'real' La Paz - at over 4,000m, where tourists usually don't wander around alone. There are now five very modern cable cars in the city, which can be seen as a substitute for the subway. On a free afternoon, you can simply sit in a gondola and admire the city from above. In the style of an Austrian sports commentator, it should be mentioned that the cable cars are from the Austrian company 'Doppelmayr'.

In El Alto, the biggest flea market in South America was taking place that day, where you can buy almost anything you can imagine. According to Danielito, there was even a guy once who sold an airplane engine. Before we marched through a small part of the market, there were some safety instructions: pickpockets are not uncommon here. Popular tactics to distract passers-by are either to spit on them or throw a fake baby at them. While the victim wipes off the spit or tries to catch the baby, their bags are emptied. Luckily, we were spared from such incidents and could admire the hustle and bustle at the flea market.

As the last stop of the day, we went to the 'real' witches market, where the locals also do their special shopping. Danielito also took us to the street behind it called 'Yatiri Street'. A Yatiri (something like a witch doctor) becomes one when they are struck by lightning or have an abnormal appearance - such as a third nipple... at least that's the story. Danielito took us to his Yatiri, who also offers his services to tourists (most Yatiris are not very open to 'gringos'). We entered a tiny dark chamber through a metal door, where a small, stout Yatiri sat with a pile of coca leaves in front of him. For 10 Bolivianos (about 1.20 euros), Emi asked the Yatiri three questions and had him read her future from the coca leaves. I sat next to her and didn't fully trust the hocus pocus. After all, the Yatiri's answers were satisfactory! He had prophesied to another tourist that her love life would not go well. Therefore, she didn't hesitate and paid the Yatiri a considerable sum to free her from the love misfortune in a ceremony where he burned a bunch of trinkets. Well, we hope the money was well spent for her... :)

A must-do activity when staying in La Paz is the so-called Death Road. Early on Saturday morning, we were picked up by our guide Gus - once a Bolivian mountain bike champion - and our driver Felix - who is actually a policeman and supplements his income as a chauffeur for Death Road tourists on his days off. By now, Gus has gained a small belly and earns his bread by cycling down the Death Road with tourists three to four times a week. Together with an Irish couple, we drove to the starting point at 4,700m. There we put on our gear, were given our bikes, and received instructions. The route first led us 22 km on a relatively busy asphalt road, where we could practice and get used to the gear. Then followed 32 km on the actual Death Road until we reached the jungle at 1,700m. Before we started, there was, of course, a ritual to appease the good will of Pachamama. Everyone had to pour a 97% alcohol on the ground, then sprinkle it on the front tire, and finally take a sip from the flask. The stuff tasted extremely sharp and made us a little dizzy!

The asphalt part was only moderately exciting, but from a safety point of view, it made sense. Gus also took regular breaks to describe the next part of the route. Then finally, we started on the Death Road, which is characterized by an extremely narrow and unpaved road along a deep abyss. In the past, this route used to be regularly frequented by buses and trucks - in both directions. At some points, the road is so narrow that it's hard to imagine how you can avoid oncoming traffic here. For safety reasons, traffic on the Death Road is on the left side, so the driver can better estimate how much space there is to the edge.

There is now a new bypass road, which is why the Death Road is mainly used by cycling tourists. However, it is still allowed for public transportation, and a vehicle can come from the opposite direction at any time. Therefore, we also drove on the left side when there were sharp curves, along the abyss. As you can imagine, the road is not named Death Road for nothing: over the years, there have been many accidents and there are still some car or bus wrecks lying in the abyss. Gus stopped from time to time to tell us scary stories about different sections of the route. He has also experienced a lot and lost some friends or tourists on the route. He estimated that there are still about two deaths per year - along the route, you can also see crosses that were set up for the victims.

As tragic as all of this sounds, we didn't feel unsafe for a single moment during our ride and couldn't quite understand how anyone could have an accident here on a bike. As long as you have common sense, an appropriate speed, and a guide like Gus who explains all the critical sections in advance, nothing can (almost) happen to you. The accidents that do happen mainly result from recklessness, excessive speed, inappropriate overtaking maneuvers, extreme bad luck, or sheer stupidity.

We mainly enjoyed the landscape and the impressive atmosphere and safely arrived at the end of the Death Road after about five hours of cycling. As a reward, we had cold beer and a lavish buffet in the middle of the Bolivian jungle! :)

What do Bolivians do on Sunday afternoon? They go to Cholita wrestling! Yes, that's right, traditionally dressed women wrestle like Hulk Hogan in his prime. I actually thought it was only a tourist attraction, but I was wrong. It's more of a family attraction where young and old fill the stands. The good seats right next to the ring are sold to tourists, while the locals occupy the back rows. The atmosphere when entering the hall was already very bizarre. Everything was quite run-down and made an overall very provisional impression. In the middle was the wrestling ring, plastic chairs for the tourists were arranged around it, and behind that were some small snack stands. There was even a small stage where the fighters performed their entrance show. Above it hung a poster of a very beaten-up guy who apparently was the producer of the whole spectacle...

The fights themselves offered everything you would expect from the big role model in America. There was the typical entrance ceremony, male and female fights, singles and tag team fights, mutual provocations over the microphone, the use of illegal objects (e.g. chairs), interaction with the audience, finishing moves, and of course, completely 'unexpected' dramaturgies during the fights. In each fight, there were the good guy(s) and the bad guy(s). The audience could choose who they wanted to cheer for. The action usually started in the ring but quickly moved outside the ring and close to the audience, who cheered enthusiastically. Once, a female wrestler was even thrown over the barrier into the audience area. At some point, total chaos broke out when suddenly all kinds of fighters (male and female) became involved and fought each other among the audience. There was probably also a story to it, but our Spanish wasn't good enough, and the sound system was so bad that we couldn't really understand anything anyways. However, the audience was still thrilled.

Most of the time, we couldn't quite understand what was happening around us, but at some point, we also started cheering along and enjoyed the absurd spectacle.

The rest of the time in La Paz, we spent strolling through the city, shopping, or riding up and down in the cable car. In the gondola, you really realize how huge this city is, especially the high-altitude district of El Alto stretches endlessly, and you have a fantastic view over the sea of unfinished brick houses. In Bolivia, there are no building regulations and a regulation stating that only completed houses have to be taxed. That's why most Bolivians don't bother plastering their facades, which creates the urban image.

Conclusion:
Overall, we spent a whole week in La Paz. You usually only need that much time if you want to do several activities around the city. Due to the bad weather, we skipped many activities and used more time to relax and recover. It was a bit annoying that there was no heating in our hostel. When we came home completely soaked after the heavy rain shower during the walking tour, we actually had no way to dry our things. As you can imagine, this created a more than peculiar aroma in the room...

The altitude of the city between 3,600m (city center) and 4,100m (suburbs) does not leave you unaffected. Climbing stairs becomes a sporting challenge. Emi once had a minutes-long laughing fit when I came into the room and could only talk in the breathless style of Stevie from 'Malcolm in the Middle', and that was even though I had just quickly dashed to the reception.

The city itself is definitely worth seeing, even if it is not necessarily 'beautiful'. The location in the middle of the Andes and the many quirks made our stay a memorable experience.

Hasta pronto!

E&L

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