C & C globetrotting around the world…

La Paz takes your breath away, literally! As the world’s highest capital (3,660m), it clings to the sides of a canyon. As you approach from “El Alto”, you wonder where the city is. Then it appears in the valley and it’s a spectacular sight, especially with the Mt Illamani (6,402m) in the background. Founded in 1548 by the Spanish conquistadors at the site of the Native American settlement, Laja, the full name of the city was originally “Nuestra Señora de La Paz” (meaning Our Lady of Peace). The name commemorated the restoration of peace following the insurrection of Pizarro four years earlier against the first viceroy of Peru.

The city is not built around a main square like most other colonial towns, maybe because of the geography. Instead, it has many irregular-shaped steep streets and alleys. Many colonial buildings have also been torn down over the years. Partly because of our persisting cold, but walking a few blocks is exhausting since you are constantly going up and down the cobble-stoned streets. The ladies have colourful skirts, long braided plaits and bowler hats, so it was great to watch them.

One evening Christoph went with some friends to a “Cholitas Wrestling Show” which takes place in the “El Alto” part of the city. Like the general population of El Alto, which consists almost entirely of Aymara and Quechua residents, the Cholitas are indigenous. They wear braided hair, bowler hats and multi-layered skirts in the ring. It’s quite the unusual sight to see them fight and pull eachother’s plaits. Besides the Cholitas, another interesting custom of La Paz is buying a llama foetus and burying in the foundation of a new house for good luck. We saw them being sold on the street – pretty gross. Usually, if they wish for something, Bolivians would buy the article in small (eg a toy car) hoping they would soon get it for real. There are packages sold at stores with things one can wish for. It’s funny to see marriage certificates for people wishing for a husband/wife. Other than that, there is not so much to do in La Paz, except wonder around to take in the beat of the city and its markets, as well as having great empanadas and llama steaks.

We then continued by bus to Oruro and then onwards by train to Uyuni, which was a very pleasant ride. We passed through Poopo lake, a salt lake home to thousands of flamingos. It was amazing!