La Paz

La Paz

A terrible, terrible place

Travel to: Bus (Trans 2 de Febrero)

Hostel: Wild Rover

Activities: Getting sick, Death Road, shopping

Travel from: Bus (Trans Copacabana Mem 1)

Total Time: 5 nights

Before I get started on La Paz, I have to mention to anyone that will ever travel from Copacabana to La Paz... Don't be scared when you are removed from the bus to float across a river. They won't take your luggage off the bus but all the passengers will be put on a boat because "sometimes the bus sinks"

!!!!!!!

Reliable transportation

Can you see The Scorpion King painted on the side...? what?

Nuestra Señora de La Paz

A capital city of Bolivia. 

Elevation: 12,000 ft

Population (metro area, census 2001): 2,300,000

We traveled here by bus from Copacabana and took a taxi to our hostel.  

Plaza Murillo, La Paz, Bolivia

Random things about the city I will never return to…

Air quality was awful. Compared to breathing in Arkansas (The Natural State) La Paz was like a crowded, smoke-friendly bar. Try not to inhale deeply on the streets. The sidewalks were itsy-bitsy-teeny-tiny narrow in most places. Getting around the person in front of you meant a quick step onto the streets. This is a dangerous step because of how lax the traffic laws are or perhaps of how aggressive the drivers are. 

It's a major city in South America, I wouldn't expect anything different.

I just prefer the smaller towns, I guess.

We met multiple travelers that were involved in car accidents in this city. 

People getting T-boned in taxis. Yikes...

The retail environment here is majorly informal. We bought shoes, sunglasses, jackets, flashlights, and soap all on the street. Thousands of one-man tiendas litter the sidewalks making it even more difficult to pass. They sell everything from dice to televisions out of makeshift stands for the lowest prices possible. If you’re shopping in South America, do it in La Paz.

On the other hand, if you’re eating in South America, stay away from the street food here. 

Unsanitary. Lots of illnesses.

Bolivia is the poorest and most underdeveloped nation in South America.
I definitely noticed more poverty Bolivia than any other place I've been. In La Paz, if this guy wasn’t asking to shine your shoes a homeless woman or child was asking for handouts on every corner. 

....BUT! 

Kids in Bolivia were so happy!!!!! I never saw a Bolivian child cry. Their mothers would carry them on their backs like this lady below is carrying her groceries, all wrapped up in a blanket. They would just bounce around and smile all day. It was precious. 

Bolivian woman and (maybe) a baby

Bolivia has the most indigenous population in South America. The way women dress in this country is very distinct; long skirts, high socks, ponchos, blankets, bowler hats and two long pigtail braids. Bolivian women are very easy to identify. Health care problems, slow progress in development of women's rights, combined with an historically misogynistic culture makes the females of Bolivia have some of the highest maternal mortality and illiteracy rates in the world! There has been progress on these fronts under President Morales but there is still a lot of work to be done. 

We picked a popular week to stay in La Paz. Coincidentally, it was during the same period President Evo Morales was spending time in this capital city. (Bolivia has two capitals: La Paz and Sucre). 

I’m not going to get too political here but based on my experience, the public has very strong views related to President Morales. The groups of people opposing Morales were also in town that week, armed with dynamite, in the mood to entice a riot.

We really didn't do that much in La Paz. Charishma got sick for a few days, maybe from the altitude but we're not really sure, so I just hung out in the hostel and took care of her. 

The sounds of dynamite exploding in the streets kind of scared me too, and I was entertained enough within the hostel walls that I didn't feel like a shut-in/wallflower/loser. 

I did do a little exploring while she recovered...

The Witch's Market downtown sells mummified Alpaca fetuses for good luck charms

(CD I borrowed your picture. Kudos, you're an awesome photographer. 

Is there anywhere besides FB you post your photos I could put a link to?)

::BEST PART ABOUT BOLIVIA::

Fresh juice stands on every corner 

This is a "to-go cup" (bag with a straw) 

Random. 

Hillary Duff does advertising for Bolivian foundation?

The hostel we chose in this city was one of the legendary party hostels (similar to where we stayed in Cusco). Wild Rover is a popular youth hostel with three locations in South America. So many people we met at this hostel we saw again somewhere along the backpacking circuit, most notable of which being our favorite Dutch travel companions. 

I'll also probably never forget the two Kiwi guys we were bunked with in a 10 person room. 

What grown adult poops their pants? 

 Stefan and Yoshi 

We traveled with these two for the next three weeks until we left Bolivia. 

-That's like three years in backpacker time-

They are from Amsterdam and taught us all about Holland. 

I will share our list of Dutch phrases later.

I’d absolutely recommend staying at Wild Rover if you have the chance. It’s one of those places I will never forget. It is in a great location, has comfortable beds, yummy food (for a hostel), and awesome staff. 

Some of our roommates in Wild Rover

Beware, beware of the dice game!!

Rules: whoever rolls the lowest number buys shots for everyone who played

Result: FML :-/

However, if you’re looking for a place to get a good night’s sleep… you may want to try somewhere else.

I attempted to take a nap one evening in a 10 person dorm… fat chance. If the crazy Kiwi roommates didn’t wake me then the bored bartenders will. They’ll randomly parade in with free shots in efforts to keep the party going 24/7. This isn’t hard to do in a city that has cocaine bars.

Yes. Bars… that serve Cocaine. Just like I can order a gin&tonic at Z330, I could order a gram of blow at Route 36. According to The Guardian it is the world’s first cocaine bar. It never operates in the same location for long periods of time, so to find the spot you have to ask around. Charishma and I had no interest in going to said bar, but I was curious enough to ask some of our hostel friends about it. A British mate told me a gram runs BOB$100 (about $14.00 US) and there is no limit to be over-served. 

Some people will get on very dangerous week-long binges and emerge from the Route a new, presumably destroyed,
person. 

I know this fact is super interesting to some people but I don't have a story about it so Click Here to read one person’s tale of  “How I ended up in a cocaine bar in Bolivia”.

He's a much better writer than I am anyway.

Story time...

People always want to hear the crazy stories from South America. The most insane things that happened, I wasn’t there for. But I’ll tell you what I heard…

If you were surprised at the mention of cocaine bars... this next part will shock you. 

Perscription drugs such as (Bolivian grade generic) xanex, ambien, pain killers [you name it] were all easily accessible at any of the farmacias on the street. I know this because I had gone to get Charishma medicine while she was sick and later needed pain killers after the bike wreck. Good system, it was helpful to us, as I'm sure it's helpful to the locals with no health care.

That's all the drugs I had experience with.

But like I said, there were some really out of control people at Wild Rover.

And what's the point of a great story if it isn't shared?

One day while Charishma was resting from being sick, I met an especially eccentric American fellow from Idaho who shared his stories with the Kiwis and me in one of the common areas at Wild Rover. He was one of those people who is a truly great story teller. He was also one of those people who had some truly great stories to tell. He was a fan of the coca leaf, always chewing as he spoke. He had little black bits of leaves in his teeth all the time which took him from an 8 to a 2, quick. 

We talked about coca leaves for a while. I wasn't familiar with them before this trip (but that's apparently what cocaine is made out of). It's one of Bolivia's -completely legal- largest cash crops and a huge source of revenue for the government. The local people chew them for energy, to alleviate hunger, and stay warm. They're also good if you are having problems with the altitude. I had some coca leaf tea on the train to Machu Picchu when I was feeling light headed and it helped a lot. 

There are different ways to chew these leaves and I learned adding baking soda to the mixture helps increase the buzz. We moved on to another topic when Mr. Idaho told us about the trip he took on ayahuasca, a psychoactive tea created by mixing banisteriopsis caapi vine and DMT leaves.

(No, I did not remember all of that. Yes, the details are from Wikipedia)

I can't do his stories justice here, like I said he was an artist with his words. But for entertainment's sake I'll try to paraphrase what he described...

Long story short: his ayahuasca ceremony, like many before him, was lead by a Bolivian Shaman as a sort of ritual. When he arrived to this place (I picture a big field, but who knows) he confessed to the Shaman what he was seeking in life and a question he hoped to which he hoped to find an answer. Around 30 other individuals confessed their desires and took a single sip of the ayahuasca tea. Everyone supposedly has unique reactions to this drug, some require 3-5 drinks while others will respond after a single sip. “It’s a spiritual trip”, he said. A sober Bolivian local will assist each person through the violent vomiting that occurs before hallucinations kick-in and an all night long, drug-induced rage commences. The guide stayed with him while he went through this experience was provided with food and water the next morning. The whole group of strangers came down together. He said it was a life altering night. 

This is coming from the same guy who was out 

following the sounds of dynamite during the day because 

being involved in a riot was on his bucket list. 

The same guy who snuck into Brazil and Bolivia 

...just to say he could.

The last mind-blowing drug he told us about was something he could only find in the jungle with a tribe of locals willing to take him in. After hearing about this, I have decided it’s one of the worst ideas in history. Mr. Idaho, however, was ecstatic to share his experience.

That’s all backpacking is really, creating and sharing experiences with complete strangers.

Somewhere deep in the jungle along the Bolivia/Brazil border, this man sought out a tribe that participated in a ritualistic piercing and poisoning of its members to elicit a psychedelic response.

Basically this guy let some tribal man stab him in the arm with a sharpened stick 9 times and cover the wounds with frog venom. He wanted the full affect; it was his prerogative to be pierced that many times. The poison goes straight through the wounds into your blood system, causing a very intense reaction.

I’m out of synonyms to describe a drug trip. 

Anyway… he said it stayed in his system for weeks, diminishing as time passed. Five is the magic number to have the euphoric feeling elicited by this “ritual” become permanent.

I met this guy one day at Wild Rover. Talked over a few beers, and never saw him again. I don’t even remember his name.

To this man, I hope you’re still out there 

living an adventurer's life 

and will die an adventurer's death. 

Anything else would be a travesty.

moving on...

Honestly the only thing of real note that we did in La Paz was 

Death Road

The North Yungas Road, at the border of the Amazon basin, is infamously referred to as Death Road around the world. It got its name because it is quite literally the most dangerous road on the planet. The History Channel did an episode about this 43 mile downhill route that connects La Paz to the town of Coroico and said it claims 300 lives every year. Photos will do this road more justice than my words can.

There are plenty of agencies that offer bike tours of Death Road. We used Barrio Biking and rode with a guide named Americo, who bikes the path 6 days a week. 

We were picked up from our hostel in a van and drove to this lake to try out our bikes and gear-up. The first section is a paved road that didn’t give anyone trouble. 

Once we took a turn onto the rocky part, the trail got narrower and the stakes got higher.

Charishma and me

This is not the kind of tourist attraction you want to take lightly.
It’s called death road for a reason!!

Our group was awesome! Everyone was backpacking from places all over the world: Holland, South Africa, UK, Ireland, USA, and Germany. Halfway down the mountain we realized that somewhere behind the helmets our favorite Colorado two-some were riding down with us.

Meet Chalex

Fellow travelers out of Boulder, CO.

We will see them a few more times in this blog.

They make me look like an amateur traveler. 

Check out Al's blog www.ILikeGoingPlaces.com 

and/or watch this video to see what I mean. 

I was doing so well to begin with! Although I had never been mountain biking, I felt comfortable on my bike and stayed near the front of the group. About 2/3 of the way down I took a turn too fast and my bike skidded out from under me. My body slid about five feet over the rocky terrain towards the end of the cliff but came to a stop before I flew off. Luckily… VERY luckily… I crashed on a wide turn and came out of it with only a few scratches and bruises.
Scared the crap out Charishma though because I didn't move for a minute after the crash.
Sorry, girl.
I went a little slower after that but still finished the ride.

And now I have a cool scar on my arm.

The whole group at the bottom

So there's one more story about the bike ride I have to tell, because it would be a sham if I didn’t.

The Girl Who Totally Stole My Thunder 

‘best bike wreck of the day’

Our group was stopped on the side of the trail, off our bikes, just chatting and waiting for everyone to catch up, when a girl comes around the corner with a look of terror in her eyes.

She obviously had no idea how to work hand breaks. 

She was already yelling apologies at us as she sped directly at me, so far out of control that I had to dive out of her way, before she ramped OFF! THE! CLIFF! 

It was incredible. 

She survived by grabbing onto the shrubbery and even caught the bike with her feet. 

I peered over the edge to see if she was alive and she threw her glasses to me, 

“HOLD MY SUNNIES!”

(English people lol, right?)

Anyway, the guys in our group helped her climb back up to safety. She said something like, "wow that was embarrassing, I'm going to pretend that didn't happen..."

Nobody said a word until she was gone.
I think we were in shock.

Our group helping the girl back to safety. 

(She's laying on the other side of the bike)

So that's all I have to say about La Paz. I met a lot of interesting people, learned some new things, fell down, got back up, and bought the bar 21 shots.

We left La Paz after the bike day and headed to the other capital, Sucre. Our intentions were to meet a friend of mine who was living in Santa Cruz but she couldn't make it.

Sucre, in my opinion, is the best and most beautiful city in Bolivia. 

I'll tell you all about that and our 3 day tour of the desert next time.

-CJ

Thanks for reading!