La Paz, Bolivia

With an amazing and unforgettable 9 days of travel through Peru behind us we set off to our next destination – Bolivia and its capital city of La Paz, 10 hours away by bus. The drive itself was stunning as we followed the shoreline of Lake Titicaca and gazed at the nearby 6,000m Andes Mountains. It was also reasonably comfortable in the luxury-style bus that we boarded and had been riding throughout our time in Peru. Some of the buses have been two-leveled and all have featured independent reclining seats with blankets, on-board washroom, and sometimes even televisions for in-transit movies. But even with all these comforts our eyes have been fixed over the incredible scenery watching as the landscape has transformed from coastal desert, to tree-lined mountain valleys and now high mountain plain. On the extremely long bus rides we have caught up on sleep, reading or journal/blog entries.

Lake Titicaca is large and being so high in altitude is usually accompanied by a bright blue sky and blazing sun. It was no different as we traveled around its countless bays and enjoyed watching the sun dance off the water and the local farmers tending their flocks of sheep and cattle. The border crossing itself went smoothly enough as we got our passports stamped by both the Peru and Bolivia authorities and then changed our money into local Bolivian dollars, which to our delight trades at $6.8 Bolivian dollars to $1 US dollar. At that exchange rate it has made traveling through Bolivia extremely affordable with the average hotel room costing less than $20 US and the average dinner around $10 US. The one odd aspect of the border crossing was that we actually had to disembark from our bus and walk 100m across the border into Bolivia, where our bus was waiting and surprisingly neither it nor we were ever searched.

Following the border crossing we then continued along the shores of Lake Titicaca (the lake is shared by both Peru and Bolivia) stopping at the resort town of Copacabana and then the very strange lake crossing at San Pablo de Tiquina. Instead of building a bridge across a narrow channel of the lake the Bolivian government employs local boatman to ferry both passengers and buses across the water. Because the ferries (large wooden barges) are so old and can only handle so much weight the buses or cars go on one and passengers cross on a separate boat – watching as their ride bobs up and down in the high waves and praying that their transportation and luggage on board doesn’t end up at the bottom of the channel. Fortunately everything crossed smoothly in the choppy waters and we just laughed about the whole situation afterwards.

As we neared La Paz the beautiful flat countryside quickly gave way to a dense and chaotic mess of honking car horns and dilapidated red brick buildings stretching off in every direction. Fortunately this suburban area was short lived because the real city of La Paz revealed itself to be quiet beautiful. As we turned a corner a wide valley opened before us with homes and office towers spilling down both sides and all in view of a majestic and towering snow covered Andes peak at the base of the valley. It caught both of us off guard and we slid open the window of the bus to take as many photographs as we could.

After being dropped off in a very busy commercial area of the city we grabbed a cab and made our way to the Residential Latino, a beautiful old Spanish manor converted into a half home-stay, half hostel with two skylight courtyards. After freshening up we immediately set of to explore the city and find a decent restaurant. The restaurant search was very difficult but we did manage to find a great “European” inspired cafe called Angelo’s with countless memorabilia hanging off every wall and great food. It was so good (especially Carolyn’s coffee) that we actually returned on two separate occasions while still in the city. Searching for this elusive restaurant also gave us a great chance to see the city, which we quickly learned is very hilly and a heck of a workout. The plazas were very vibrant and ringed by beautiful old buildings and government palaces, while the pedestrian streets were awash in vendors and locals strolling.

The city is cold on account of its elevation and the time of the year but with toques and jackets we made the most of our day and a half in La Paz picking up some souvenirs and easily hiking over 10km up and down the hills. We may have left on only the second evening but thoroughly enjoyed our brief time in the city and the countless little surprises it left with us. All the locals that we met were so friendly and helpful and in particular we want to thank Jorge at the Residential Latino for helping us plan and co-ordinate our next destination: the Salar de Uyuni (the largest salt flats on Earth), 12 hours south by bus in Bolivia.