La Paz

Im sitting in a bus station in Tucamon, Argentina waiting for my 1am (14hour) bus to Mendoza. I have a two hour wait but Iv no internet.... I dont fancy ready the book I have its hard work, so Im catching up with the blog in Windows note pad and I will copy it over later.... I am a genius!!

La Paz

La Paz again is a city I really liked but one which I had heard really bad stuff about! Again it just goes to show that you can hear all the travel talk you want on the trail but it really does come down to your own opinion. I had heard off a number of people that it was dangearous etc but I felt fine walking around DURING THE DAY. Once again the usual rules apply.... be safe etc etc. Now Im not silly even the hostel had signs up saying DO NOT GO OUT ON YOUR OWN AT NIGHT. So I didnt and all was well.
Im up a little higher again. La Paz is at 4000ft above sea level. The air is getting thinner all the time and its a city full of hills, damn it!!

7th/Aug

We were up at a decent hour this morning to run across to the Wild Rover and see if we could get a dorm. We did, success!! After getting comfy into our new home myself, Ash and Edel decided to go walk about. We were keen to explore the 'witches market' and see what it was all about.

The main square in La Paz is a busy place, the traffic is so heavy that .... listen to this ..... they have volunteers that are dressed up as Zebras to help you cross the road! It is the weirdest thing ever! And they people in the suits are jumping about the place happy as larry. I used to love holding hands and walking across the road with one of them hahaha!

We walked about the place and did the usual exploring. Then we got to the market. MY god, Iv said already how cheap Bolivia is but Il say it again. Bolivia is cheap. I could have shopped non stop but Ijust dont have the room. The main items that are on sale is 'Alpahcha' wear. Alpacha is an animal similar to a Llama, Im not 100% sure of the differences but I know Alpacha live higher up the mountains and their fur is warmer. Anyway every Gringo will have a piece of Alpacha on them!! Gloves, scarf, hat, socks, leg warmers you name it you can get it. You may have seen my photos where Im sporting my red Llama jumper.... a bargin at €8 (although I did pick this up in Cusco not La Paz) I love it and I never take it off. So as you can imagine we spent hours walking around the hundreds of places you can shop and it was great!! All I picked up was a tiny purse that cost me a euro, like I said I just dont have the room, my case is already bursting.

We finally came to the 'witches section' of the market which was a little dissapointing although we did see some weird shit such as dead baby Llama featuses. SICK.

Now every Sunday the wild rover sends a bus from the hostel to Bolovias version of WWF wrestleing. Yes I cant believe it either but I said Id go alone for the craic. The bus left the hostel at 4pm. On the way to the wrestling we stopped at a view point overlooking La Paz. My god its some city, it is VAST and sprawling and pretty impressive.

The wrestling I can honestly say was the worst 3 hours of my life. Ok maybe the first 10 seconds were a novelty but after that it was SHITE. I dont even want to waste my time talking about it. Luckily I was with the girls so we made our own fun.
We decided to treat ourselves that night and headed to The Steakhouse. This is the type of place you go to at home and pay €50 for a steak. I paid €18, expensive by Bolivian standards but well worth it. And it wasnt just any steak it was a Llama steak. Yes I went there I ate one of the cuttest animals on the planet and it was delicious ha!
After dinner we headed back to the Wild Rover for some serious wild antics :P

8th/Aug

Hangover day.... We managed to leave the hostel for a Korma at about 10 that night but apart from that the day was a write off!

9th/Aug

Spent today walking around La Paz, chilling in the square and the girls went mad in the market again. Ash and Edel are both teachers and were on the good aul teachers holidays so they had loads of roo to stock upon Alpacha crap! ha After the shopping spree we went for a loverly GnT. We really know how to spoil ourselves (dont we girls ;) It was their last night in La Paz so a far well night out was in order. We went mad..... again. Oooops.

10th/Aug

Not in the greatest of shape today and the girls left me this morning for Rio Booo :( Its the hardest thing about travelling, you meet great people but everyone has their own route and has to go their own way in the end.
I did manage to do somthing productive today and booked a trip to the Amazon!! Bolivias share of the Amazon is in Rurai, located on the opposite side of the country to La Paz so an inexpensive internal flight is required to get there.
Bag packed (again), early night.... the jungle awaits me.