La Paz, Bolivia

Saturday 7 July 2007 Tomorrow is a landmark as its 6 months since I left London. On Thursday night I left Cusco in Peru by bus to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The journey was a lot better than I feared. Because of the protests of the previous weeks the bus was taking a round about route avoiding Juliaca to Puno, the first stop on the journey. Although it was a fine looking double decker luxury coach the route taken included a lot of unmade sandy roads which made me nervous because of the increased risk of a skid. In fact there was only one hairy moment I noticed when the bus seemed to slip sideways for a second and, I think, clipped a sand bank. The driver stopped and got out to check for damage but was soon on the way again. I slept reasonably well although I was a bit cold and this company didn't hand out blankets. Daylight broke about 5.30 am and before long we arrived in a cold Puno bus terminal. I then had to wait an hour for the next bus to Copacbana, in Bolivia. After a dreary breakfast I got on the on the bus and was sat next to young Korean guy. We had a long conversation which took most of the 2-3 hour journey to the Peru /Bolivian border to Copacabana. Copacabana is a small resort town on the edge of Lake Titicaca which gives access to the Bolivian islands. I had lunch at an outdoor restaurant and took the final bus to La Paz, which included an interesting ferry crossing a narrow point over the Lake. The passengers take a small boat and the bus goes the half mile crossing on a barge driven by one outboard motor.


On the other side we passed some wide barren valley with snow capped mountain peaks off in the distance. Eventually we entered what I took to be the outskirts of La Paz. This consists mainly of very unattractive red brick buildings, many apparently unfinished and without any aesthetic or or architectural merit. On a slight incline of the plain I could see these stretched on for miles. I was beginning to wonder what La Paz would be really like when we entered onto a motorway and soon were looking down onto an a huge valley lined right up the mountain edges these unprepossessing building. Except now in the bottom of the valley one could see the high rise office blocks and apartments which is the the city centre.

Once we arrived in the city centre I walked the few hundred metres from the bus company office to my hotel. After a welcome shave and shower I made my way to the next tour company to make my plans for the coming week. After the business was done I walked round the city centre which was really bustling, to get more money from the bank and then for a dinner. After quite along walk around the centre I found a nice bar/ restaurant near my hotel where, over dinner I met a Frenchman who could speak English and enjoyed a good conversation about our respective travels, the problems of capitalism and the benefits of Coca.

Today I took a bus tour to some more ancient ruins, Tiwinaku, "Bolivia's most significant archaeological site" 72 kms west of La Paz. Today was cloudy and there was a cold wind so it was necessary to keep wrapped up. I'm afraid after Machu Picchu the site was not very inspiring but the museum attached and the Llama steak lunch made it worthwhile.

Tomorrow night I take another bus south to Uyuni, from where I plan to take a tour of the highly proclaimed salt plains and other landscapes of South West Bolivia