La Paz

La Paz...

Working from memory now and it was a while ago but here we go while I have a minute...

Well, La Paz was hectic, the streets were rammed full of cars zipping down narrow cobbled streets and people with millions of little old ladies (Cholas) in traditional dress selling on the streets. There were a gang of Zebras (men in costumes) directing traffic and a usual chaos about the place. Sadly within hours of arriving we heard a thump as we left a cafe and saw a teenage girl on the floor - she´d been hit by a bus.

Aside from traffic chaos, there were some great things to do in La Paz - There was also a wicked musical instrument museum, a musuem on Coca with interesting quotes like "1 in 2 North Americans arrested test positive for cocaine"... hmmm... The view across the city was immense which we saw from our bus on the way to watch the Wrestling that takes place in El Alto - a city on a plateau that looks out over La Paz with an 80% indigenous population. The Wrestling was great, Ninja Turtles, midgets and women in traditional dress pulling hair and dropkicking each other.

We also went to the ancient ruins at Tiahuanaco - a giant Temple with astromonical lake on top, plus a rock with a hole shaped like the center of your ear canal that amplified sound (possibly used to scare tample-goers or hear better). There were also monoliths and gates in stone that had on calendars for the 2000 year old civilisation that predtaed the Inca and of which incredibly little is known... There was also a sunken chamber in whihc heads were carved, possibly of enemies now residing as Trophy Heads...

We bought tickets for a tour to Rurrenabaque - in the Bolivian Pampas in the Amazon Basin. We got a 40 minte flight out in a rickerty 12 person plane and then spent a few days at a jungle lodge with resident Caimen (Alligators) after speeding by jeep from the airport down dirtroads to our boat. The first day we saw many birds, Squirrel Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, turtles. We went out by boat at night Caimen spotting by shining a torch into the banks and looking for glowing eyes!

Day 2 we went out to hunt anacondas! No really we did... we spent a sweltering few hours roaming the grasses in the waterlogged lowlands trying to spot movement by our feet in search of huge anacondas... without luck. apparently its not the best season and they were allusive although one person did see 2 slithering away from them in the water. The trip was made extra fun/agonising by a gang from Leeds who´s mentality had obviosly stopped at age 16 sand a gang of Aussies & Americas who were like extras from Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and promptly turned up and fell in the river, then cruised the waters complete with a crate of beer.

Day 3 we went out to an area where pink river dolphins collect and swam with them! (nasty animals dont come here as the dolphins butt them out of the group to protect themselves and their young). We could swim really close and see them breaching and I even touched one with my foot - they were slimy...

Back in Rurrenabaque - the office told us that there were planes but there were not. Bad weather meant a bogged airstrip and so after 3 days without flights and a days wait for us, we got a bus. It was 30 minutes hereon the plane and after a jeep ride in which the jeep got stuck in the mud (We were sharing the road with guys on mopeds, family cars and huuuuge trucks.) it took 20 hours back to La Paz along (officially) the world´s most dangerous road. 30+ people die a year on this cliff hanger. We took sleeping tablets and got back early morning.

Safely back in La Paz, we headed out to the Isla del Sol on lake Titicaca...