On Wednesday night we took a train from Tupiza to Oruro. We had read that the train is much more comfortable and much safer than the bus and, considering that Tupiza doesn't have an airport, we decided that the train was our best option. We bought the most expensive train tickets available on the most luxurious train service in Bolivia and it only set us back 50 euros. The train would take 12 hours to get to Oruro but we were not worried - we had semi-cama chairs, a dining cart and surprisingly clean bathrooms. What we weren't prepared for, however, was the extreme cold at night. Somewhat frozen, then, we arrived in Oruro at 7 AM. Oruro didn't seem like a nice town and is mainly known for throwing quite the extravagant Carnaval party (not really our scene), so we took a taxi to the bus terminal and were on a bus en route to La Paz at 7.30 AM. 4 hours later we arrived in Bolivia's capital.
When you read about La Paz in your Lonely Planet you kind of want to go straight back into the other direction. You read about taxi drivers who work together with local gangs and who will kindnap you to extort pin numbers. You read about fake police officers who will demand to see your passport (before stealing it, one presumes). You read about children spitting you in the face, distracting you so that they have the opportunity to slice your bag with a knife and steal your belongings. I even heard stories about women who had their earrings forcefully pulled from their ear lobes - auch! Add to that the fact that we had just come from the country and were a little bit intimidated by the thought of a big city and we decided that we would only stay in La Paz for 2 days. Now that I'm here, though, I wish that we hadn't already booked bus tickets to Lake Titicaca because La Paz is actually kind of great.
When you arrive in La Paz you see quite an amazing sight. I can best explain it like this: it is like you are staring at the Grand Canyon, and inside of the canyon there are millions of brick houses running from the bottom of the canyon up to the hills on the edge of the canyon, like a modern-day Zion hidden away in a crack in the Andean Altiplano. It also kind of reminds me of Valparaíso, although it is certainly not as colorful. Still, when the millions of lights come out at night, the city feels quite magical. As always I read up on safety issues, beware my surroundings and everything was fine. I have come to believe that a smart head on your shoulders is all you need to travel safely through South America. That, and ear studs.
On our first afternoon we walked around town a little bit and had lunch at Alexander Coffee, not exactly the most authentic Bolivian lunch experience, but their coffee is good. La Paz has such a great vibe and truly seems to be a mix between the old and the new. You will see men in suits walk next to older Bolivian women wearing traditional weavings and bowler hats. You can find a popular coffee chain in the same street as the Witches' Market where vendors sell llama fetuses for locals to bury near their homes for good luck. And unlike in, say, Buenos Aires, I feel that this mix doesn't make the city ugly but all the more interesting and beautiful (we still appear to be the only ones not in love with Buenos Aires, but it had to be mentioned). After lunch we visited the Coca Museum, which houses a small but very informative exhibition about the history and use of the coca leaf. Coca leaves and maté de coca are widely available in the Andes, but its use is being severely undermined by the US because coca leaves are also used to produce this nasty little thing called cocaine. The museum clearly promotes a message about being very pissed about all this, and although I wouldn't claim to be any sort of expert on the subject, the chewing of coca leaves and the drinking of maté de coca do seem pretty harmless to me. I had coca leaves on the South West Circuit and have really been enjoying drinking maté de coca. I leave the politics of it all to the politicians.
Today we went on a tour to Tiwanaku, which is an important archeological site in Bolovia and very close to La Paz. We were guided by a an insightful local guide who told us story after story about this pre-Incan civilization. There are not many ruins to visit, but we felt that it was a great introduction to what is to come at Lake Titicaca and, of course, Peru.
Tomorrow (already!) we take an early bus to Copacabana, which is not Rio de Janeiro's tropical beach in our case, but a Bolivian town close to the Peruvian border. We are staying at an amazing hotel overlooking Lake Titicaca in order to celebrate Jochem's 26th birthday in style. My 28th birthday in Phnom Penh seems like such a long time ago! We hope to explore Isla del Sol when we're there, which is supposed to be a real gem. But for now I'm still a little sad to leave La Paz already.
If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!
No comments:
Post a Comment