Our original plans had been changed because of civil unrest in Peru particularly in Puno where we were planning to spend a day or so around THE lake and then fly out of there to Lima. Little did anyone know but we faced social ‘issues’ in La Paz however ….. after an absolute shocker of an overnight bus trip from Uyuni, La Paz was an experience I shan’t describe in much detail. Suffice it to say it is a dense dirty city that sprawls up the sides of a deep canyon.
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| It's a street culture in the older part of town. |
Street people, mostly the indigenous Aymara, descendants of the Incas, squat along the sidewalks and gutters eking out an existence by whatever means. It’s a different life to what we had seen so far in Chile and Bolivia. Our first day there explosives were detonating around us. It was a bit scary even once we knew they were 'firecrackers' according to our guide. There was a city-wide demonstration/protest instigated by the teachers to try to force the government to become a formal socialist State. It is ongoing with planned city lockdowns and demonstrations on every intersection over the weekend starting Friday when we’re due back in town from ….. but that is a few days away and one doesn’t want to get ‘anxious’. And to think we were trying to avoid social unrest in Peru!
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| Cute local transport |
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| Indigenous dress is very common for the women |
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| Narrow streets we were forced to take because of 'strike' congestion in main intersections |
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| Our guide/driver locked his car. "Lots of theft" I asked? "Not at all" he said hand on heart and I think hmm |
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| Everywhere street markets |
Our rather short stay in La Paz was OK-ish. Basically an afternoon to see the city which started with a trip to the Valley of the Moon. The erosion in the canyon where La Paz is situated is hard to believe. Yet still people build on the very edge of the canyon – and get washed away! We rode the Teleferico (cable car) and had amazing views out over the city.
We were, me in particular, disappointed in our visit. Our guide spent a lot of time of the phone (not aware of where we were) and sneaking pix of us for his FB page. Really!? Until I told him to stop. Despite warning from our guide that we would not find places that would take credit card, we managed to find a number of them and one particular wee hole in the wall amongst the chaos of the streets that served delicious food.
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| Guide on phone with us trailing behind |
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| Fairly specky views |
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| Excellent network - if you live at the top or bottom of the canyon! |
Then thankfully we escaped to the tranquility of Isle de Sol in Lake Titicaca.
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