La Paz

The one thing I have learned about myself while traveling is that I'm not actually a big fan of big cities in South America. They are all transportation hubs, so you have to visit them in order to get anywhere but they are not usually somewhere I want to spend a lot of time. La Paz however was an exception, I'm not sure what it was but I really liked La Paz and it was my favorite of all the big cities we have been to.

Witch Market

 

One of the first things we noticed was the difference in costs. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and while the prices are cheap in Ecuador and Peru, they were REALLY cheap in Bolivia. This is the place where you want to do all your souvenir shopping (if you have room in your bag). There are streets covered in shops selling pretty much everything you could buy in Peru but for half the price.  They also have a witch market that was pretty interesting and contained lots of alpaca fetuses. Apparently you are suppose to bury the fetus under the porch of your house for good luck but I didn't think anyone back home would appreciate that as a gift nor do I want to touch one.

Zebra patrol

Similar to most cities in South America the traffic is crazy and pedestrians do not have the right of way, so you learn to be very wary when crossing streets. But we were really surprised one morning when we noticed a person dressed up as a Zebra suit directing traffic outside our hostel one day. At first we wondered if this was a traffic officer having some fun but on sequential days we noticed Zebras in other locations also directing traffic. We later found out that it's a volunteer program, young people between 16-24 volunteer to dress up as Zebras and help direct traffic at busy intersections in La Paz, to help encourage drivers to follow road rules and help pedestrians get safely across the street. 

Can he fit anymore on his car?

Bolivia is pretty much an adventurers paradise with tons of activities to do and for very little money. So our fist day was just spent deciding what activities we wanted to do...which was pretty much everything!

Ice Cream Creation

We heard a lot of complaints about the food in Bolivia but if you like carbs then you should be fine.  Bolivia was my breaking point for french fries and I got to the point were I couldn't eat them anymore but we found if you ate at a nice restaurants the food was quite good and still really cheap. And if you are in La Paz you have to go to Dumbo or Brosso for dessert...it's amazing and just thinking of it makes my mouth water.

La Paz is also the place to party. If you are looking for a party hostel Wild Rover and Loki definitely live up to their reputation. One place we kept hearing about, although we didn't go was Route 35. It's suppose to be this bar that has paid off all the cops, only lets foreigners in and  serves lines of cocaine to customers.