La Paz is a hive of activity. Set in a deep bowl in the mountains, the central city is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, all of which are covered in houses - so the effect is similar to being in a vast amphitheatre. As many of us remember from either pub quizzes or the Guinness Book of Records, La Paz is the highest altitude capital city in the world, at roughly 3,650 m (11,975 ft) above sea level. However, much of the city is set above the CBD, meaning that a lot of the actual metro area (including the airport), called, appropriately, El Alto, sits 4000m (13,000ft) up.
And it feels as though the amphitheatre setting concentrates the activity in the middle. The bustle that greeted us when we ventured out from the hotel felt never-ending and all-encompassing. Of course that was partially because we were in the very centre, round the corner from the church of San Francisco on one hand and the Witches' Market on the other. And it was to the famous Witches' Market that we headed, unsure what unusual paraphernalia we'd find.
What we mostly found were dried llama fetuses. Occurring naturally every few pregnancies, aborted fetuses are collected and burned as an offering to the Aymara earth god Pachamama. They looked very disconcerting, but after a while we got as used to them dangling around as it was possible to do so. As well as the dessicated llamas, shops sold everything from sugary offerings to little trinkets and charms, as well as the ubiquitous tourist-focused Andean merchandise.
We spent some time wandering around, enjoying the exotic sights, and picking up some souvenirs. One shop particularly caught our attention, because of the shopkeeper rather than the merchandise. After making a few purchases in pidgin Spanish, we fell into conversation about the meaning of various charms and talismans, and ended up getting on so well that as we finally left she kissed us both fondly, and insisted we take an extra charm, to bring us good luck on our voyage. Read further in the blog to see if that was the case!
After spending a bit more time wandering the streets around Belén and the market, explored the surrounding areas, trying to get money out (our ATM cards had mysteriously stopped working a few days previously- one had been eaten by the machine in Cusco) and exploring the local scene, we collected our bags from the previous night's accommodation and walked the 20 minutes downhill to our next hotel. Today was Molly's birthday, and so we had organised to stay in a lovely old hotel in the Sopocachi neighbourhood. The Hotel El Consulado is a former embassy, and by some amazing stroke of luck (the witch's charm?) we had managed to book the Presidential Suite for less than the cost of a normal motel in NZ.
We took the opportunity to relax for a bit and catch up on some phonecalls, before heading out on the town for Molly's birthday - around the corner, in fact, to an incongruously Austrian restaurant called Vienna, which had been rated very highly on tripadvisor.com. the food was delicious- Austrian with a little Bolivian fusion- and in honour of Molly's birthday the staff brought out a little apple strudel with a candle, singing Happy Birthday as well!
The next day we headed back in to experience the maelstrom of La Paz, firstly by flying over it. A few years ago La Paz built a system of gondolas above the city, connecting the heights of El Alto with the central city, and they provide an incredible bird's eye view of the valley. We took the yellow line from Sopocachi up to the top, where it was still cold enough for snow to be lying around, and then back down to town, gaping out of the windows at the cityscape and the amazing natural geography.
A quick taxi ride later and we met up with the famous Red Cap Tour - a free walking tour run by locals. It had been very highly rated on tripadvisor.com, and we soon saw why, the guides took us through markets, side streets, and the central city, letting us in on aspects of Aymara culture and Bolivian history- including the (apocryphal?) disturbing tradition of burying a living human sacrifice in the foundation of large buildings (!), and the dynamics of buying your food at the local market- you are supposed to 'adopt' a seller as your de facto aunt, and she will give you freebies ranging from extra goods to life advice.
The tour finished at a local pub, and at that point we made our way back to the hotel, where we spent some time repacking for the next part of the trip: the Uyuni salt flats, where we would be travelling by landrover for 3 days and 2 nights, with only a small bag allowed. The hotel kindly allowed us to keep our big bags there till we got back, so we set off by taxi for the bus station, where after a bit of waiting around we jumped on the overnight bus for the 700km trip to Uyuni.
Traveller's tips
El Consulado was a great hotel - extremely helpful staff, great breakfasts, lovely room. It was actually really nice to stay in Sopocachi rather than near Sagarnaga, as it was slightly outside of the intense bustle but still easy to get around.
Vienna restaurant was excellent and extremely reasonably priced for a nice dinner out! Highly recommended. We had the Lake Titicaca trout, which was excellent, and the spaetzle.
Taxis: we were told to always get your hotel or restaurant to call a cab, or to get ones with telephone numbers and names on the top, and that worked well for us. Always agree on the price upfront, and get another cab if it sounds too much. I don't think a single cab had seatbelts.
Teleferico: This was the best way to get a sense of the city. We did the yellow line, which was a great view and very cheap. The first few lines have just been completed, and they should be adding more in coming years
Red Cap tours were great, highly recommended. Leave a good few hours for this.
