Day in La Paz

Sunday 10/8

 

Off to la Paz at 8 am, we met our guide in Plaza del Pedro,with a group of just four, that way we would be able to ask as many questions as we wanted.La Paz is not a nice city but this is a personal opinion without wanting to offend anyone. But it is striking without a doubt,somehow the graffiti everywhere, the unfinished buildings, the colourful clothing and markets and smells makes it if tickle your senses.From shock and sadness to see its poverty to admiration to see how they get on with live with what little they have is at least admirable.Strangely enough Pat really likes it!!! I am always amazed on how children perceive realities in different way to adults.

After setting of to El Alto( the highest part at 4 200 m) were poverty is the worst we walked down to the boundary with La Paz to jump into a bus to the Market...that feels a bit like a death wish the way they drive here..

The Market is divided in tiny corridors with different things to buy.The life stock area was not great to see for either of us: they have tiny cages full of baby ducks, guinea pigs mixed with the odd kitten and all other animals. Patrick really begged me to buy the kitten but the impossibility of the situation made us both sad.

We did try some strange fruits what was nice although my appetite was long gone.

The unfinished buildings are for a reason though since you don't need to pay tax on it, the whole Alto is unfinished so it almost makes it look good and in style.Garbage and the amount of dogs in the city are unbelievable and does make me feel very lucky to live in Shropshire.

We finished in the museum and the witches Market, the more touristic area with the typical hand crafted things.

One thing was very interesting, The Bolivian Aymara people( an ethnic group) are very superstitious, and they will go to specific places to get their needs blessed, so they will buy miniature cars, baby dolls, money, credit cards, food anything you could possibly need and go to priest to get it blessed so it comes true, there are more advanced practices with packs of different items plus a foetus of a Alpaca what thru rituals get offered and burned and then only god knows...it might just happen. I am staying well away from this practices but by all means interesting to know.

We took a taxi back and to our surprise there was a 10 month old girls with her brother sitting in the fron without seatbelt or any baby chair... Dad the taxi driver said his wife was working so he had to work all day with tiny ones in the front, the most unbelievable was that they were quiet and did not cause any trouble....sad though.

Sorry if this is long and maybe not of interest to anyone but it serves the purpose of a diary to us to look back at it in the future.

 

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