October 21st to 27th
On saturday october the 21st, after visiting the Tiwanaku site, I took a bus to La Paz, and then I crossed the city with the cable car, in one hour (there are 5 lines in service, out of 9 planned in total. The first one opened in 2014, and it’s impressive for the mobility. The paceños I talked to about it are quite happy about the service, but I also heard that the city is not getting the return on the investment), and another bus to Coroico.
La Paz
I arrived around 5, and met Lise, a french girl I had met in the Colca canyon. We had seen that there was a festival in Coroico that weekend. Lise had arrived the day before, and told me the whole city was partying, with the streets full of people and she witnessed car blessings ceremonies with beer (her blog post here). Indeed, it seems that the main celebration day was october 20th, and the celebration is about the Candelaria virgin, one of the saints of the country. The 21st there was less people in town, but still, we found fun and generous bolivian people that offered us beer and to whom we talked quite a bit, about many topics including geopolitics! The next day, Lise left early to keep on her journey (we’ll meet again), and I stayed some more in this town. I walked in the surroundings and went to some waterfalls, not spectacular but I was able to swim and that’s always cool 🙂
Coroico
Coroico
On monday the 23rd, I took a bus back to La Paz, which I had only seen briefly from the cable car. I stayed until the next friday (it feels good to stay in one place, after several weeks changing places almost everyday), I walked through every neighborhood, took every line of the cable car, went up to the El Alto neigborhood that is now a city on its own, and that hosts on thursdays the biggest flee market in south america, and went to the Valle de la Luna, a place with impressive rock formations.
La Paz
El Alto
El Alto
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz – Cholita
La Paz
La Paz – Reverse clock put by Evo Morales to diferentiate from the north emisphere
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz
La Paz – lama foetuses
La Paz – Valle de La luna
La Paz – Valle de La luna
I quite liked la Paz, I think I could live there. I had not only heard good things about Bolivia, for example I had been told that the people of Bolivia were cold, and that gastronomy was quite poor. My impression was different: the bolivians seemed smiling to me, and I prefer them to be indifferent than if they were looking at me like like if I was an alien because I look different. And about the food, I enjoyed some delicious fruit salads, good and diverse lunches from the market, egg or avocado sandwiches. And being the cheapest country in South America, prices are just ridiculous.
On saturday october the 28th, I left la Paz to go climb the Huayna Potosi at 6088m. I’ll tell you about it next time!