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| Night in La Paz from our AirBnB on 19th floor |
From Uyuni we took a short flight to La Paz. This was probably the first flight we have ever taken where we took off before the scheduled departure time and arrived at our destination at the same time we were supposed to take off! We found in Bolivia that you can arrive +/- 2 hours to the expected time of arrival, it totally depends (on what exactly we are still not sure). Anyway, we arrived in La Paz to spend one short night before heading to Lake Titicaca (see post) and then returned back for almost a week in the city. La Paz as a whole is very beautiful, with the City in the valley and surrounding snow capped mountains. It is steep, the streets wind and stairs seem to go on forever! Looking around there is construction everywhere. Wherever a house could be built into the hillside it has been (otherwise it is just a sheer cliff).
We went on a walking tour of the city which helped us get oriented and taught us some interesting facts about the city. Probably the most notable was that the San Pedro prison which is located smack in the middle of city center (and is still functioning) is run on a totally different system. All inmates must pay their way in jail! Depending on how much you can pay (for rent) determines how nice you live from a small cramped cell to a hotel style room w/ TV, etc. And, not only do inmates have to pay for rent, but they must also pay for food. As such, the inmates have shops, restaurants, etc. to sell things in prison so that they can earn money to afford rent. And possibly the craziest of all, inmates (all male) can have their wives and children live with them. Because the families are not criminals they can come and go as they please. Yes, the prison door is open all day, with less than 20 guards staffing the place and over 1,500 inmates. So, it was not surprising to find out that San Pedro has an underground market of cocaine production (apparently some of the purist cocaine in all of South America).
Apparently, you used to be able to go on "tours" of San Pedro. There is even a book written about it called Marching Powder, by Rusty Young. However, people were going on these tours to buy cocaine, some tourists were not allowed to leave, others were attacked by inmates...and the Bolivian government put a stop to them. Our guides explained that while still possible it was highly recommended to not go as you could end up stuck.
Here are our city highlights:
Cholita wrestling
Some background here - in Bolivia, women who wear traditional Andean attire are referred to as "Cholitas" and wrestling in South America is pretty popular. Apparently merging these two ideas of having women dressed in traditional garb and wrestling started as a way to help / train women who are suffering from domestic abuse. And, recently, the cholitas decided to start their own league and put on shows. It was both of our first wrestling match and it was definitely interesting to observe but what we appreciated most was that while it has become more of tourist destination, the audience was 50/50 tourists and locals.
German bakery - Arco Iris
Directly across the street from the local mercado which is filled with fruit & veggie stalls we saw a bakery selling babkas and challahs. Naturally, we went in there to discover not only did they have challah, babka, but they also had tons of danishes. We bought a bunch and they were very very good. Luckily for us this was only a short walk from where we were staying so we were able to come back a few times for some tasty treats! |
| Challahs and babka in La Paz! |
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| Could be Glaser's (R.I.P.) on the Upper East Side |
Fancy Bolivian Food - Gustu, Alipacha, and Cocina Popular
Bolivia is not really known for its cuisine but there were three restaurants we had heard about that are gourmet and are showcasing the food that is grown in all the different regions of Bolivia. We had the pleasure to dine at all three where they each have their own niche - one is a vegan only tasting menu (Alipacha), one is lunch only (Cocina Popular), and one is super fancy (Gustu).Teleferico
Because La Paz is in the valley but it is super hilly, they have a wonderful public transportation system to help you traverse the city in a system of Gondolas/Telefericos. We highly enjoyed riding them and getting great arial views of the city while getting us to where we needed to go! |
| Heading up to El Alto |
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| Modern and interconnected stations |
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| Different feeling about riding the teleferico |
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| Urban rivers do not get a lot of love |
Valle de la luna / StarWars park
A short public transit commute (teleferico & mini bus) from La Paz is this Valle de la Luna which is a small little park filled with the natural rock formations that occurred there. Rumor has it that it is called Valle de la Luna because Buzz Aldrin saw it and claimed it looked like the moon, but we did not fact check this statement... It happened that there is currently an exhibit of StarWars cutouts all over the park. |
| The lunar like landscape seems to appear out of nowhere |
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| Tie fighter chasing the Millennium Falcon |
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| At-At Walker |
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| Speeder bike in the foreground with the Death Star in the background |
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