La Paz & Potosí, Bolivia

La Paz

We continue by bus. It's only 4-5 hours to La Paz. For that, we have to cross the lake by bus. The bus is loaded onto a 'motor raft' and we all get off and onto a small motorboat. That's how we cross Lake Titicaca and after another 3 hours we reach La Paz.
The search for a room here is more difficult than expected. We walk for ages with our backpacks through the steep streets, but the accommodations are either too expensive or fully booked (we're not quite sure if maybe they just don't want us because we're gringas).

Well, eventually we find an 'alojamiento', where we pay 50 Bolivianos (around €7) together. We throw our stuff into the room and take a walk through the city. It's huge - about 1.6 million inhabitants - and there is a huge traffic chaos to admire. Iris introduces me to Api, a Bolivian national drink made from corn - super sweet - and there are also something like baked mice. So we stroll through the streets and hey, we even find our way home again - maybe our sense of direction isn't as bad as we always think.

We have a TV, but no shower ! We try it out right away and the next day we sleep in.

We visit the biggest market we've ever been to - the market of 'El Alto'. The market is as big as a small city. You can buy everything here, from secondhand stuff to beds, car parts, underwear, and even mega TV sets. We spend a whole day here until we're completely overwhelmed...

Among other things, we visit the 'cala de brujas', the street of the witches, where there are dried llama fetuses - which are supposed to bring luck - and powder for everything - powder that makes someone fall in love with you, powder for more luck in life, etc.
The days in La Paz pass by and yeah, since we don't tolerate big cities so well, we continue to Potosi at night!

 POTOSÌ

In Potosi, we sleep in extensively. Traveling is really tiring and you need days to lie down and sleep in between.

Iris was here for 3/4 months before and knows her way around
Potosi is a beautiful city with small alleyways and old colonial houses, picturesque! Here we do some things on our own, it's about time. I relax a lot while Irli meets an old friend and visits the Agua Termales.

I (Iris for a change) was very excited to be back in the place where I did my internship 4 years ago. It was a very familiar feeling to walk through the narrow streets and look at the Cerro Rico (the mountain on the edge of the city where mines have been worked since colonial times. Gold was mined back then - today it's minerals). I meet up with a friend from back then, we go to 'our bar' - a small shed - drink whisky and chat until the early morning hours. The next day, we cure the hangover first and have a pork roast roll for breakfast. In the afternoon, I go with Sergio to nearby thermal pools. We make a campfire, drink wine, admire the starry sky, and soak in the 40-degree warm water for hours, talking about travel experiences.

It's just a shame that Vera can't share this beautiful place with me.
After the sun hits the tent full-on in the morning - it's pretty intense at over 4,000 meters - I dare to stick my head out to find out where all the noise and children's laughter comes from. The thermal pool, which was like paradise for me last night, is apparently a public 'washing machine' for countless families today. Blankets are scrubbed, pants and shirts are washed, liters of Coca-Cola are drunk and eaten on the side. And when I see the water foaming with detergent, I lose interest in bathing in it again. So we pack up our stuff and head back to Potosi. It's time again to say goodbye to my old friend and this beautiful city.

(There are no photos of these experiences because we were a bit lazy to take pictures!!!!!!)

In the evening, we head back to La Paz, and thus northward, to the warmth