La Paz
Mid January 2013
What a surprise when we arrived, after passing the traffic jam to reach the pay tall gate, to see the city below us in a valley. The road took a big turn down and it felt like sinking down between houses, slowly. There were buildings everywhere, on each side of the mountain.
The bus dropped us in the center, and we walked to our hostel we booked ahead, Hostal Republica, which wasn't in the main touristy part, but behind all the official government buildings. A bit expensive, but from what we heard we were happy to have a nice hostel since it's not always the case in La Paz.
The Spanish couple we met in Cusco, made us rethink about our luggage. They had only 10/13kg each. Of course they didn't have a tent, mats, cooking stove and utensils, but nevertheless we decided to cut through our bag's weight. We couldn't move anymore with our +20kg each. We spent half a day putting on the bed everything we had and deciding what will go back home, to the trash, or stay with us. And it's with pride that we went to the post office under a heavy rainy day, to send back home a bit over 10kg! No kidding! Books, clothes, Spanish courses, knifes (none of them made it because it's not allowed to send them by post in Bolivia, the knifes) and more stuff. It's wasn't very cheap but we were so relief to have lighter backpacks. I could almost put it on my shoulder with only one arm, almost... And of course, the box we went to look after in shops, they didn't want it but you had to buy their one! Extortion!
The day before shipping back home our box, we went to see the mirador (lookout) of the city and on the way back to the hostel, the rain starting to be very heavy and very close to us so we decided to go and hide for a coffee. By miracle, when we sat I saw a flyer about the e-reader I was looking for in the US before leaving, which I couldn't find. They were selling it, so I jumped on and bought it. So now, I have a light book of the rest of the trip. I was so happy! It's definitively a best companion for travels.
The other days in La Paz, we relaxed, went out to the touristy part of town to organize the following weeks in South Bolivia: Sucre and Uyuni. We just bought a bus ticket to Sucre and will see there if it gets cheaper for the salars.
Streets
Official building
Busy street, as most of them
Need to fix something at home?