Lucky in La Paz...

Talor: Unlike most capital cities, I really liked La Paz. It's a nice mix of old and new, both touristy and not, and can be pricey and economical at the same time. Situated in a valley, we rolled into town with views of the city built on hills . It reminded me of Valparaiso, Chile, but bigger. The bus dropped us off at the Cemetery, where we were greeted by a nice member of the tourist police, who promptly put us into a taxi towards the center of town. Thank you Officer!

We were lucky to find a room at the Hotel Torino, which is situated just off the Plaza Murillo. Although considered the center of town, it wasn't too touristy. The Torino is an old, slightly worn building that houses an art museum and a cultural center in the courtyard. Our room on the 4^th floor, though it had seen better days, was airy and got great light. With a hot shower and a firm foam mattress, it was a bargain at $11/night. And as an added bonus, we got to see shows going on at the cultural center by sneaking up to the balcony!

We also got lucky with the weather. Sunny and warm during the daytime and mild in the evenings, we set out to explore the city, and got great exercise huffing and puffing up and down the hills. Found some cool little museums to check out, including the Museum of Musical Instruments where they had an impressive collection of instruments from all around the world, some of which we had fun playing. At the Coca Museum, we read the interesting role coca played in the Bolivian culture and history. And at the Witches' Market, I was totally grossed out by the dried llama fetuses!

We got lucky with the food too... along the Prado (the main drag), we found great snacks... pizza by the slice, gyros and delicious coffee ice cream at Bits and Cream. There was also higher-end international food to be had... pretty good Asian food at Thai Old Town and super-spicy curry at the British Indian Curry House. But my favorite food, hands-down, has gotta be the Bolivian saltena (originally from Salta, Argentina). Similar to an empanada, they are filled with potatoes, peas. carrots, sometimes hard-boiled eggs and olives and bits of chicken or meat, and these little guys are tasty! Slightly sweet on the outside, savory on the inside, it is best eaten on the street bent over because the juices squirt everywhere when you bit into them. When slathered with a spicy peanut sauce, they make the best breakfast or snack anytime of day.

But the best luck of all was getting to meet and spending several hours with Rosita, Gigi's Aunt, who lives in La Paz (thank you Gigi for the introduction!). We had a lovely evening at the Cafe Marbella, chatting while sipping tea and eating pie. Before saying good-bye, she gave us departing gifts, mementos from La Paz. How sweet! How lucky!

Erik: Yes, the tourist police welcome was warm – I guess that the cemetery isn't the safest part of town for the buses to be dropping off tourists. In fact, a funny thing happened on the way to the cemetery (and La Paz...) It was about a 3 ½ hour ride from Copacabana. We were told that we'd need to get off the bus about ½ way and take a ferry across another part of Lake Titicaca. We naturally imagined we'd get off our bus, take the boat, and board another bus on the other side. When, we arrived, though, I went to fetch our backpacks, and was told not to bother. I was confused by this, until as we boarded our “ferry” (really a tiny boat built for 6 or so that 20 of us were stuffed into), that I saw our bus backing up onto a tiny barge, hardly wider than the bus itself. I have no idea how the tiny platform supported a large tourist bus, but I was very happy to be crammed into our tiny boat rather than riding on the bus floating on that tiny, motorized float. Despite my fears, the bus stayed afloat just fine, we re-boarded, and were soon in La Paz.

The next day we took advantage of La Paz's cosmopolitan nature, and took in a film – the new James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace”, which had just opened that day. We had no idea that the plot of the film revolved around a new Bolivian revolution, and that much of it was took place in La Paz and the surrounds. Small world, indeed! (Turns out the Bolivian scenes were actually filmed in Chile and Panama!)

Meeting Rosita was a real pleasure – a sophisticated woman, self-taught in French (which came in handy a few times during our conversation), and simply a warm, caring woman. We hope to return soon and see her again and reciprocate her great hospitality.

Despite all the warnings we'd received to the contrary, we felt safe and comfortable in La Paz, and enjoyed a relaxing, rejuvenating stay there.

Our photos of La Paz...:

La Paz, Bolivia