La Paz and Lake Titicaca

Disclaimer: The following is Phil´s review of Bolivia. Jen does not have as negative of an opinion about the country. Antonio: Sorry to say bad things about your country, but La Paz was the only place where we were treated kindly.

I would like to start this blog post by saying that I would not recommend Bolivia as a travel destination to anyone. The people are rude and dishonest, it is dangerous, you will get sick, and the price to get in is $135 for US Nationals. The one gleaming exception is La Paz, which is a beautiful city with unbelievably nice people. I had heard that La Paz was horrific for travelers, but I found it to be the only good place in Bolivia. The country as a whole is filled with natural wonders, including the salt flats of Uyuni, Lake Titicaca, and Amazon Rainforest. However, the people in small tourist towns, which are jumping off points to the natural attractions, are nothing but low class scam artists that have not a smidgeon of decency in their hearts. I could type for hours about all the scams and dishonest business practices that I witnessed and was victim to, but I will save this space to talk about the positive time I had in La Paz. Bolivia seems to be the opposite of a normal country in the sense that you find kind people in the big city and rude people in the small towns.

After our four nights in Uyuni and with our broken computer, Jen and I were set to head straight to La Paz to recover from our Altiplano adventure. Several companies offer direct bus service from Uyuni to La Paz, and I decided to go with the most expensive and comfortable: Todo Turismo. Luckily I did, because the TransOman bus, which I almost chose, flipped over on the dirt road out of Uyuni when the driver lost control of the vehicle. Two people died, including the driver, the bus ended up on its side blocking the whole route, and all surviving passengers were stranded on the side of the road in the freezing night air. Luckily we were safe and sound, only delayed one hour on our trip while some of our acquaintances were left stranded for some time.

Once we got to La Paz our luck turned right around. La Paz is a beautiful, chaotic city centered in a valley and expanding up the surrounding mountains. Here we stayed three nights in the best hostel I have ever seen, the Adventure Brew Hostel. This place had all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, one free house-brewed beer per guest per day, a well-designed bar with excellent view, and great bedrooms. With this as our base, we explored La Paz over three days. Our first priority was to fix our computer, so we hooked up with a friend of a friend´s technician and got our machine fixed as I described in a previous post. This was a huge weight off our shoulders. Then we finalized our departure ticket, which leaves from Quito, Ecuador on March 3rd, taking us to Louisville, Kentucky the same day. Another huge weight off our shoulders. Finally, I was able to meet up with the person who basically hired me at Pan American, Jose Berrios. Jose is a Bolivian native of La Paz who used to consult for Pan American, and was my first boss for a brief time at my old job. We met up in a nice, suburban part of town called Zona Sur, and caught up on things in a cafe. Also, while we were in La Paz, Evo Morales, Bolivia´s far left-wing president, was inauguated for another term. During his inauguration festival he hailed his indiginous supporters and damned the United States. He is Hugo Chavez´s best friend.

After three nights in La Paz, Jen and I headed to Copacabana, a town right on Lake Titicaca. We took the Lonely Planet (travel guide book) suggestion and splurged on La Cúpula, a boutique hotel with amazing views of the lake. This might have been the nicest lodging I have ever stayed in, and we used our nice digs to recover from our stomach bugs. After one night relaxing and recovering, Jen and I headed to the Isla del Sol, an island on Lake Titicaca that the Incas believed to be the birthplace of the sun and many of their mythological figures. There are supposed to be interesting ruins on the island, but Jen and I spent almost the entire time on the island asleep as the rain poured heavily. The next day we returned to Copacabana and La Cúpula with high hopes of watching the Saints play in the NFC championship game. These hopes were thwarted as Fox Bolivia played the Simpsons and Fox Sports played some lame Argentine soccer game. As you sports fans know, the Saints won in an overtime thriller to go to their first Superbowl ever. This was the last straw for me, and I hope to never return to Bolivia.

I must also mention that Jen and I saw a fascinating festival on the same day I missed that great football game. Once a year people in Bolivia hold a festival called Alasitas, where they buy miniature versions of their desires such as houses, cars, stores, etc. and have a priest bless them in hopes of receiving the object in real life. It may seem naive to you rationalists out there, but it makes for an interesting festival. Jen and I both got miniature masters degrees and miniature certificates of excellent employment.

We did manage to take some great pictures and videos, so please enjoy...
La Paz and Lake Titicaca
Alasitas
Video of La Paz and our friend, Antonio