Nov. 13th to 17th
We arrived inLa Paz, the highest capital of the world, which is in between 3200m and 4000m. It is surrounded by snow caped mountains, all within heights of 5000m. It is also the only place in the world in which the poor live at the higher altitudes and the rich at the lower altitudes. The city in itself is not the prettiest, but we still had some good times and met some good people.
The kiwis and I went to a hostel that was recommended to us by a few people. We spent the next few days shopping, walking in the city and one day was lost because of too much partying the night before.
During this trip, I read a really good book called Marching Powder, written by Rusty Young. It is about the San Pedro prison inLa Paz, I won’t give any details about the book because it should really be read, but this is no ordinary prison. We only went to the front of it and talked about the book. Next thing we know, a woman comes up to us and hands us out a little piece of paper. It said: Hello my friends, call me, a number, I’m Sebastian. We look towards the doors and see an inmate waving at us. I still have not called him and at this point I do not think I will. It would have been interesting to hear about the prison in relation to what I have read, but I didn’t do it. We visited the contemporary museum, which was nice to see Bolivian artists because we do not really know anything about them back at home.
On our way back to the hostel, we got caught in the rain. We were all wearing shorts or dresses and flip flops. Along with the rain, came the cold. And then, obviously when you want or need a taxi, there are none or they are all full. So, we decided to just walk back to the hostel. The main road was closed for some event or protest and so there were many people in the street. We start running across because of the rain and all, I mean ALL the men started whistling at us, it was like a wave of whistles as we ran across the avenue. It was so embarrassing but hilarious at the same time!
La chola 