Bye bye Bolivia

I think a few days were plenty of Bolivia. I guess I should start by saying that I didn't really wanna come here in the first place. After realizing it was the most direct path to where we wanted to go, we decided that we might as well traverse the lovely country. It started in Lake Titicaca, as I described earlier. Next came the bus to La Paz, the mighty steed it was! Lauren and I were lucky enough to sit behind two Indians and their daughter. I threw up a little in my mouth when the mom started digging away in the little girl's nose with her fingernail! We started climbing out of Copacabana in our mighty 1970 Toyota minibus, a daring drive with steep Andean cliffs on each side with not even a hint of a guard rail or road repair. Soon we made it to a part of Lake Titicaca that we had to cross. I figured it would be a bridge that we would drive over. The bus was driven onto a wooden barge to ford the river, Oregon Trail style (for those of you from my generation). I included a picture of another bus making the same crossing. I was hoping we were going to get to hunt for buffalo at the next stop!

After the lake crossing, we finally made it to La Paz, Bolivia. It was raining and cold out and the city is pretty intimidating. The bus driver tried to drop everyone off at the cemetary but everyone kinda refused to get off until he took us to the bus station, which was designed by the same person that did the eifel tower. We made it to the hotel pretty quickly and watched the Obama innaugeration. It really made me think of how badass USA is and that we really are better than every other country. Being in Bolivia will do that to you. Even Lauren was feeling pretty pro-America that day.

The next day, the sun came out, against warnings of rain from the news, and we decided to explore La Paz by way of finding a way to buy plane tickets out of there!! We walked down to the main street, which is huge, and it was completely blocked off by armies of chanting protesters who were shooting firecrackers. We knew they were about to vote on a new constitution, we just didn't know it was happening the day we were spending in La Paz! Naturally we found the nearest American chain (in order to avoid food poisoning and have someone to sue if we did become ill) and sat and watched the 3rd worlders riot themselves silly.

La Paz was really not a bad place. We ended up having quite a good time walking around the city, especially when the clouds cleared and we could see the 16,000 ft snowcapped volcanoe that towers over the city. It was so amazing that we just started following the street down which we could see the thing until we could see all of it. It was pretty cool because they say there is about a 5% chance of seeing it this time of year.

Food in La Paz..... still horrible! We ate all American chains except one. First night was Hard Rock Cafe. Easily the coolest Hard Rock in the world, worst food though! I didn't think veggie lasagna would be too hard to screw up but it tasted like they poured a whole box of mortons in it! Burger King the next day was incredible. I ate more than 3 bites for the first time in a couple weeks. Later on we tried a monsterous local chain. Brosso was everything. Playplace for the kids the size of chuck e cheese, full bar, fireplace, two stories with easily 800 seats, a grand piano, a menu that rivals in size with Denny's combined with a Mcdonalds and Baskin Robbins. It was incredible. I had the sneakers, snickers icecream. The place was full of the upper end La Pazians. Overall a pretty hilarious experience. If you look at the picture we sat in the table you can see right by the 'O' in Brosso, near the tangle of electrical wires.... what a view.

La Paz is also famous for it's shoe shine boys. They dress like terrorists with black ski masks over their heads. We were pre warned so wern't alarmed by them.

I felt bad not supporting the cause for $0.30, but I don't think he could have done much to the Merrells.

Next we strolled throught the witch's market. It is exactly what it sounds like. There are millions of old Andean women selling potions, carcasses, and other lucky trinkets. They stand there all day chewing coca leaves and moaning strange andean phrases at you with coca blackened teeth, trying to get you to buy a horribly stinky dried Llama fetus for good luck. No thanks the smell was all the luck I needed. There was nice array of other exotic, probably endangered dead things to add to the standard Llama fetus.

The last part I have about La Paz is a bit about the municipal bus system. I wouldn't know how to ride this thing (or be brave enough to attempt) if I had lived in La Paz for 20 years. It consisted of a fleet of bluebird or Thomas school busses inherited from more well-to-do 3rd world nations, half a century ago. The paint jobs on them tipped you off first. Whatever neon color was found in the garbage that day, got used. Then it was styled with any religious sticker or American brand name sticker that could be found and placed all over. Next they must make sure the catalitic converter or any other emission reducing enhancement is removed make for maximum pollution. The blacker the better with this exhaust. The final touch is to find a teen that can speak as fast as an auctioneer to stand in the missing door or window of the bus screaming at mach speed which route the bus covered. I was able to understand one word one time one of the kids said. I was freakin proud. If that was too much to consume, here is another picture to help.

This ends the recap of La Paz. Our flight this morning to Santa Cruz started the official trek to Brazil. Expect a post whenever we get to a firm destination on the East Coast of Brazil. For now, I have to catch a train, my first passenger train experience ever, for 14 hours across the Dengue fever region of Bolivia. I miss everyone, but especially the food! I hope you're enjoying reading about my adventure.

Sincerely,

John