(The first 4 pics are in Coroico with Che; the next 4 are from Cochabamba, graffiti, view from hill top, cinnamon ice-cream, and the kick-arse bus; rest are in La Paz city, view from lookout, streetscape and my regular eating hall)
Who would have thought i´d spend 2 weeks in La Paz.
La Paz starts at the plateau and spills down the rugged valley where the temperature rises about 5 degrees or more - its´a cold place and a rude awakening from my summer interlude. It´s a pretty looking metropolis with mostly low rise housing though ornamented with a of badly maintained transport system - the minibuses which can squeeze shit loads in or the old 50´s US school buses which run slower than you walk. This place was hard to crack, every day i took a few steps outside my comfort zone, climbing another hill (as la paz is one hilly mess) puffing as i went in the thin layer of oxygen. But it bewitched me. The streets are spilling over with vendors selling everything imaginable, and i bought it allll. Saw the witches market where dehydrated llama fetuses hung, peach juice (cooked, but also endless fruit stalls), hairdressers soliciting for clients, popcorn, meat (of course never refrigerated on the street), deep-fried sausage, and soup, etc, i couldn´t go on. But even despite the vendors, the streets are full of movement and life, making it easy to just sit at the plaza and stare but hard most of the time to even walk through the crowds. Plazas everywhere homed and congregated people but come about 10 at night and all´s gone home, reminding me so should i.
But i did make 2 out of town trips, one towards the Yungas to the village of Corioco, warm with lots of mosquitoes. The roadtrip there is renowned for being "the most dangerous road in the world" but it´s not cos they fixed most of it. An incredible drive that took me through the snow before plumeting nearly 2000m in 3 hours, hence the heat. Still, very hilly and green, where a lot of coffee and coca is grown and spectacularly looking. There i met Che Geuevara (sorry Jorge) and i asked him if he wanted to take a day hike to a village, Tucaña, down the hill top where coroico was and up another. There lay villages with afrobolivian populations form the slave intake years but they appeared to live in harmony together. Thought it´d take 5 hours to and fro but i got tired so easily and we did several mate and ciggy brakes that it took that long one way. Well we still had to stumble down the mountain side, to the main road and ride on the back of a truck to get closer to home. That night we ate like horses and got tipsy on beer. I´ll be seeing Che on my way through Salta, Argentina, i hope if he´s not on a nutty anthropological expedition in the mountains.
I´ve been saying there´s one month left on my holidays for the last 3 months. Ha! A week ago i went to immigration to ask for an extension on my 30 visa only to be told that the aussie and Bolivian consulates had a misunderstanding and i would have to pay for my extension... So I´m not making a bee-line for the Argentinian boarder. There´s loads to see here, loads and even an extension wouldn´t do half of it justice. I´m missing out on the amazon completely and sticking to the east.
But i had to come through Cochabamba, where Manuel is from - housemate from BA. Now i understand why he´s homesick. A world away from La Paz, Cochabamba is sleepy middle-sized city with yummy temperate weather conducive to ice-cream, especially cinamon flavoured. It´s that kind of town you say i could raise kids here... well I´ve been wondering leisurely around trying not to eat and try food and stuff every 5 minutes, cos frankly it´s hard to fit it in. Although a shame that just about everything cooked is fried, deeeeply.
Heading tonight to Sucre to get tomorrow to town nearby with an awesome Sunday market - can´t resist. Then to Potosi to see the mines that to this day kill by poison workers within 10 years of starting there. Then to the long awaited Uyuni salt lakes and a dash to the boarder. Geez, it´s the first time i´ve had a week´s plan in advance...
La Paz starts at the plateau and spills down the rugged valley where the temperature rises about 5 degrees or more - its´a cold place and a rude awakening from my summer interlude. It´s a pretty looking metropolis with mostly low rise housing though ornamented with a of badly maintained transport system - the minibuses which can squeeze shit loads in or the old 50´s US school buses which run slower than you walk. This place was hard to crack, every day i took a few steps outside my comfort zone, climbing another hill (as la paz is one hilly mess) puffing as i went in the thin layer of oxygen. But it bewitched me. The streets are spilling over with vendors selling everything imaginable, and i bought it allll. Saw the witches market where dehydrated llama fetuses hung, peach juice (cooked, but also endless fruit stalls), hairdressers soliciting for clients, popcorn, meat (of course never refrigerated on the street), deep-fried sausage, and soup, etc, i couldn´t go on. But even despite the vendors, the streets are full of movement and life, making it easy to just sit at the plaza and stare but hard most of the time to even walk through the crowds. Plazas everywhere homed and congregated people but come about 10 at night and all´s gone home, reminding me so should i.
But i did make 2 out of town trips, one towards the Yungas to the village of Corioco, warm with lots of mosquitoes. The roadtrip there is renowned for being "the most dangerous road in the world" but it´s not cos they fixed most of it. An incredible drive that took me through the snow before plumeting nearly 2000m in 3 hours, hence the heat. Still, very hilly and green, where a lot of coffee and coca is grown and spectacularly looking. There i met Che Geuevara (sorry Jorge) and i asked him if he wanted to take a day hike to a village, Tucaña, down the hill top where coroico was and up another. There lay villages with afrobolivian populations form the slave intake years but they appeared to live in harmony together. Thought it´d take 5 hours to and fro but i got tired so easily and we did several mate and ciggy brakes that it took that long one way. Well we still had to stumble down the mountain side, to the main road and ride on the back of a truck to get closer to home. That night we ate like horses and got tipsy on beer. I´ll be seeing Che on my way through Salta, Argentina, i hope if he´s not on a nutty anthropological expedition in the mountains.
I´ve been saying there´s one month left on my holidays for the last 3 months. Ha! A week ago i went to immigration to ask for an extension on my 30 visa only to be told that the aussie and Bolivian consulates had a misunderstanding and i would have to pay for my extension... So I´m not making a bee-line for the Argentinian boarder. There´s loads to see here, loads and even an extension wouldn´t do half of it justice. I´m missing out on the amazon completely and sticking to the east.
But i had to come through Cochabamba, where Manuel is from - housemate from BA. Now i understand why he´s homesick. A world away from La Paz, Cochabamba is sleepy middle-sized city with yummy temperate weather conducive to ice-cream, especially cinamon flavoured. It´s that kind of town you say i could raise kids here... well I´ve been wondering leisurely around trying not to eat and try food and stuff every 5 minutes, cos frankly it´s hard to fit it in. Although a shame that just about everything cooked is fried, deeeeply.
Heading tonight to Sucre to get tomorrow to town nearby with an awesome Sunday market - can´t resist. Then to Potosi to see the mines that to this day kill by poison workers within 10 years of starting there. Then to the long awaited Uyuni salt lakes and a dash to the boarder. Geez, it´s the first time i´ve had a week´s plan in advance...
1 comentario:
Hey Chris -
Nice work... I like the way you write. My blogs are much more long-winded and rambling, yet much less poetic.
I`m guessing you got the 10 years in the mine equals death fact from the Lonely PLanet right?
Apparently not the case - our tour guide has been mining for 5 years and seems in pretty good health, but you probably learnt that fact is wrong as well after doing the tour.
Best of luck for the final "month" of travel! Was a pleasure meeting you.
Rob
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