On the 17th November, at 6.30am it was time for Adam and I to leave Puno in Peru and cross the border to La Paz in Bolivia. We were thinking about taking a tourist bus like the Inka Express that we took from Cuzco to Puno but no such thing exists. So instead we got a 40 soles (£10) Tour Peru coach and embarked upon the 9 hour journey. All things considered it was great value for money, the same price as a half an hour taxi ride in Puno!
The immigration queue to enter Bolivia was comically slow. I was surprised when we got to the front of the queue after nearly 2 hours that there was a hi-tech camera at the immigration desk.
Welcome to Bolivia!
La Paz was reached by an extremely bumpy road. It was becoming clear that Bolivia is not quite the well-oiled tourism machine that Peru has become. The city itself was sprawling and busy, full of local people and businessmen going about their daily lives, a sight we has not really encountered the past few days in Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
We stayed at Hotel Casona close to the San Francisco church on the busy main road Santa Cruz. The traditional architecture of the hotel had been beautifully restored and although the upper floors of the hotel were a bit of a maze, it was a very comfortable place to stay.
The waiter at the coffee shop of the hotel made the sweetest hot chocolates.
On our first evening, we ventured to Sopocachi, a bohemian district away from the main tourist hub of La Paz. Walking through the streets, we could have been in a city in India or China or much of the non-West world… plenty of concrete and brightly lit small shops and street food stalls.
We ended up at some random bars, one of which served just one type of beer and one whisky (yet numerous adverts of other brands of alcohol and many types of glasses to serve them in!) and had an ancient TV playing 80s music videos. It was a bizarre and fun evening. Despite having a list of Lonely Planet pick restaurants in mind, we opted for an ambient restaurant that was full of locals called Ciclik. The global food theme meant that I could (for the first time in many days) feel justified in ordering some very simple food, spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce and basil. The meal and the red wine by the glass were tasty.
The next day, I spent some time exploring the city whilst Adam took the “world’s most dangerous road” day trip. This cycling journey was something I avoided because I really do not like cycling downhill on bumpy terrain. I have always preferred the uphills or flats and would have been paying £100 for several hours of uncomfortable and scary braking! Adam confirmed it was indeed all downhill and whilst the scenery looked beautiful, knowing myself well enough, it was not something I felt too bad to miss out on.
As a side note, this attitude tells me how different I am now to when I was travelling aged 21. Whilst backpacking in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia there was not much I would not do if it was “the thing to do” in that place. Whether I would enjoy it was irrelevant! Hence bungee jumping, sky diving, Sydney harbour bridge climb, dangerous ziplining into rivers with rocks in Laos… you name it, I have the photograph!
At 11am, I went on a Red Cap walking tour. Our guide Jorge was very lively and humorous and tried to keep the large group together. As he said, you have to be careful on the streets as Bolivians see traffic lights as Christmas lights, there for decoration!
We started in Plaza San Pedro outside La Paz prison, a pink building that is a city within the city. There is a small scale drugs factory inside it, overlooked by the police. Apparently drugs are thrown outside onto the street in nappies! There used to be prison tours that tourists could go on but they have been stopped since a couple of incidents of violence against tourists.
We visited two food markets and learned that a Bolivian local should be loyal to the woman he buys fruit and veg from. In fact, your “Cassera” is often your impromptu therapist. I had a fresh passionfruit and papaya juice for 10 Bolivianos (£1.25) and a fresh avocado sandwich for 6 bolvianos (75p). The sandwich was a huge ripe avocado scooped out onto a large soft bread rolls with finely sliced red onion, lemon, salt, pepper and tomato. Divine! At least some of my South America tour still felt like great value for money post Brexit.
Cholitas are the local Aymara women who wear braids, small bowler hats and frilly skirts. In their fashion, wide hips and strong large calves are seen as attractive and their outfits show off these features. I do not have photos as we were told, they traditionally believe that having your picture taken could take away a part of your soul.
At the witches market, we saw various magical potions and baby llamas that are used in traditional sacrifices. They have something called “follow me” dust to help romantic endeavours but you have to be careful the wind does not deposit the magic dust on the wrong target!
We also visited the main political square and learned about the history of protest in La Paz. In the past, these protests involved backlashes and violent shootings and the bullet holes can still be seen on buildings around the square.
The people of La Paz love a good protest. There was large scale protests when a local TV channel stopped showing the Simpsons and when a popular chicken restaurant closed down!
Talking about politics, the current president Evo Morales, is the first indigenous president. He found a loophole around the two term limit. Having changed the name of the Bolivian Republic to “Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia” to recognise its 36 indigenous nationalities, he argued to the courts the term count resets under this new state entity. It is likely he will try to run once more in 2019 but so far he has narrowly lost a referendum to allow him to change the constitution to enable an unlimited number of terms.
Evo Morales is seen as having made some improvements socially (especially as an indigenous person he represents the majority of Bolvians who are indigenous and were discriminated against in the past) and to the education system. However, he is well known for saying stupid things. Three comedy instances to paraphrase our guide:
- The president attended a football match in Spain between Real Madrid and Barcelona. He was asked at a press conference who his favourite Spanish team was. “Real Madrid” was his answer and fair enough. Another reporter asked his favourite team overall globally. He answered “Barcelona.”
- In a speech warning against the effects of too many hormones being added to meat and the imperialist impact of foreign products like Coca cola dominating the market, the president managed to tell people if you eat too much chicken (which could have female hormones added) you will become gay and if you drink too much coke, you will go bald. He had to apologise to the chicken producers not to mention the gay and bald communities!
- After a census showed Bolivia to have a population of 10.5 million, the president decided he should take measures to increase the population. First he annouced that he was banning condoms which sparked outrage from many people including his health minister. Then he apologised and announced a tax on women over the age of 18 without children! Again there was outrage and women took to the streets to protests. The president had to apologise profusely. Finally, he came up with a financial incentive for women having children that was not so unpopular.
Later in the afternoon, I took a food tour of La Paz. This was a smaller and more homogenous group than the walking tour, mainly couples of a similar age to me. One guy even worked at the same office as me in Canary Wharf! I enjoyed tasting things at markets and small restaurants that I would never have ordered myself.
Api Morado: Hot thick drink made of black and white corn and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. It is a traditional breakfast for miners in cold regions such as Aruro and felt like a thick non alcoholic version of mulled wine! It was served with fried bread (like an Indian puri) with cheese inside and icing sugar sprinkled on top. This sounds weird but actually tastes pretty good.
Vitamin fruit drink: Get all you need nutrients wise in a heavy juice!
Spicy pork from Sucre: Cooked in peppers and served with giant corn and dehydrated potatoes. Delicious aside from the texture of dehydrated potatoes! Possibly my favourite Bolivian dish.
Soup with toasted peanuts: Tastes a bit Thai!
Sangani cocktail: Like a Pisco sour… but don’t say that to a Bolivian.
Picque Macho: Meat, sausage and chips mix from Cochamba. I am not a fan as there is too much going on in my view (yes I know, how did I like the fried bread with cheese and sugar in that case?)
La Paz was a fun place to explore for a day but even with the food tour, I have to say Peru wins cuisine prize for me hands down!
Adam and I also had a fun night out in La Paz a few days later after our Bolivia salt flats trip. We had tasty nachos, guacamole and beers at a small bar with an English singer and traditional band. The music was so good the whole bar kept begging more one more song! We ended up hanging out with some tourists from a G adventures tour and went to a nightclub where you can pick the music by typing your song into YouTube on the DJ’s laptop… Of course I selected “Hips don’t lie” by Shakira.
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