Friday, October 17, 2008

La Paz

La Paz as viewed from Killi Killi Mirador. As I travel, I see commonalities between cities and also notice some new things in each new place I visit.

When the bus first peeked over the edge of the altiplano down into the valley where La Paz is nestled, I had flashbacks to Rio de Janeiro. The hillsides are covered in brick-colored houses all the way up to the rim, and the low points contain the wealthier houses and the downtown areas. The biggest difference between Rio and La Paz, of course, is that La Paz isn't perched over the ocean. In its background, however, are big, beautiful mountains. The setting is gorgeous, just a bit different.

A street vendor. The thing that might stand out the most at times is how you feel. Its elevation is over 3,600 meters, or almost 12,000 feet. I'm currently staying on the 4th floor of Wild Rover Hostel. When I get up to my room after hiking up all those stairs, I almost pass out. I'm panting like crazy. The same thing happens when you walk around outside. As the city is situated in an entire valley, almost every street is a hill.

La Paz has the biggest markets I've yet seen. I've visited a couple and I must say I've never seen so many individually packaged items in one place in my entire life. You can buy just about anything you want from cleaning products to any kind of food or produce to candles to shoelaces. You name it.

A girl in the plaza feeding the pigeons. In other parts of the city, you may not find a huge market, but you'll find all the usual street vendors selling whatever your heart may desire, and at least the non-food vendors tend to bunch together. For example, you may find three or four guys making duplicates of keys or selling candles. I even saw a lady cutting out shoe inserts with a pair of scissors. Another beautiful thing you'll find in La Paz that I didn't encounter much in the more southern countries is street vendors selling slices of pineapple and cups of fresh-squeezed orange juice. A cup of orange juice costs about 28¢ and a slice of pineapple costs between about 14¢ and 21¢.

Almost regardless of which direction you head, you'll be on a hill. As if the hills and the altitude weren't enough to make life a challenge, the sidewalks are barely wide enough for two people to pass. And where there are light posts, there is barely enough room for one person to squeeze through, especially if you're wearing a backpack.

A key duplicator touching up his work by hand. The streets are narrow and I've heard more honking horns in my few days here than in the rest of my trip put together (part of the honking is just taxis advertising their availability). There are myriad taxis and a couple other forms of public transport. There are what appear to be old school buses acting as the city buses. This is the first time I've seen these old buses used as the primary public transport on my trip. There are also loads of minivans with someone hanging out the sliding door hollering out the destination. They stop anywhere and everywhere picking up and dropping off passengers.

For the most part, when I've been hungry, I've just wandered around looking for a hole in the wall joint. The first day I was here, I had some beef, rice, soup, and a Coke. The price? Nine Bolivianos. In American, that's $1.29. Another day for lunch, I had chicken, potato, a nice bowl of soup, and some other gizmos on the plate that I didn't really like—nor was I able to identify them. The bill came to a whopping eight Bolivianos. That translates to $1.14. I have no idea how these people make a living. Their rent must be only five bucks a month.

A little girl announcing shoes for kids. I always like to get to a high spot when I visit a new city for some overview photos. I enjoy seeing the lay of the land. There's a hill right in the middle of the city called Killi Killi Mirador. It's a nice little park-like viewpoint with virtually 360-degrees' view of the city. At least from this hostel, it's very easy access. Six pesos will get you to the top in a taxi, and an easy 20-minute walk will get you home.

When I first arrived here after my trek in the south, I slept fine. I guess I had acclimated to the high altitude. Then I went to the north and the edge of the jungle. After returning from three days at sea level, I had trouble sleeping. Every few minutes I had to take a deep gasp of air. The next night I slept fine again.

Women in Bolivia? Well, the attractiveness quotient drops several notches on average in comparison with Argentina and Brazil. The missing European and African influence makes a really big difference.

A taste of one of the markets. A word about Wild Rover Hostel. It's a very nice hostel and is kept very clean. The bathrooms are very nice and are cleaned continually. There is a bar and I believe you can buy food there. It can get a bit noisy at night. Just reserve yourself a bed in the 4-bed room—it's pretty quiet. There is a travel agency situated in the main office for booking tours—convenient. They also have WiFi. If you're in La Paz, I definitely recommend staying at this hostel.

There's certainly much more to this city than I saw, but I'm on a mission—I'm headed northward, and fast. If I'm in this neck of the woods again, this is a city I'll come back to.

5 comments:

Cheryl Mingo said...

Sounds a lot like Managua...old school buses as public transportation as well as tons of minivans with people hanging out! So, headed North. Are you still planning on doing the Amazon River? I can't imagine being around there and not at least doing something on the river! Your travel route map is behind schedule :) Take care. See you soon.

Jay Philip Williams said...

The Amazon trip is out. No time. At most, I'll do a jungle trip from Iquitos. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures, especially those of the animals and the south. I am realizing that it can be difficult to get those good pictures with moving targets like animals and people in various lighting. Too bad you won't be able to go to the Amazon. I don't think there is ever enough time to explore all the possibilities we have been given from God, except when we don't know what to do and do nothing. Perhaps you can do the trip another time in the future.

Mike

Anonymous said...

Almost forgot, the pictures of the people are great too, since they give flavor to the area with their personality and culture showing through.

Mike

Abhijeeet Thacker said...

Jay,
Read your blog entries after a long time. You are making me feel like going on a wild tour like yours. But I know I cant :( Looks like you are having time of ur life.....

Njoy
Abhi