From Buenos Aires we flew to La Paz, and the instant I got off the plane I felt dizzy. It’s not overly surprising as we went from sea level to 3700m above.

Luckily, the dizziness dissipated pretty quickly, and we were in a taxi to Loki Hostel. The service at Loki is really good and our room which is a matrimonial room (the name South American accommodation gives to its double bedrooms) is really clean and comfy. And the shower pressure is epic.

Loki is very central and the rooftop bar/restaurant/common area are has amazing views of the city. We are spending a total of 5 full days here with Uyuni Salt Flats, Death Road, and a 4 day Amazon Trip in between.

Food

So far we have visited a few good restaurants – the best being Kolkaditas a really cool Mexican place, and Mozzarella which was an awesome pizza place. We left a little napkin with our names on it under one of the tables there, so if you go, have a wee lookie.

Walking Tour

We took the walking tour of La Paz with Red Cap tours which was really good. The guides were great and we were taught about a bunch of interesting topics. My top two facty things were: 1) San Pedro prison and the way it works. If any of you have read Marching Powder you will understand our fascination. The guide pointed out a little hole in the roof where inmates launch baby’s nappies filled with cocaine out of into the public square, where someone is waiting to catch it and run. 2) The Bolivians believe burying a llama foetus under a building construction is good luck for future business as it is an offering to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). But guess what Pacha Mama likes more? Human offerings. So if the building construction is important enough, one of the witches goes out and finds ‘someone whose family or friends won’t miss them’ (that was an actual  quote) preferably a passed out drunk or drug addict, offers them a drink which is 96% alcohol, waits till they pass out and throws them down into the building foundations to be covered in concrete WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE. No joke.

Also there was a lot of really interesting political history stuff, and we could see bullet holes in the facades of government buildings. And the guide told us about this drug you can get from the witches market called FollowMeFollowMe dust, which guys can blow on to the backs of girls’ heads and they will go home with them. A couple of the Brits and Aussies and us, were looking at each other thinking, soooo a date rape drug?

So yeh, three things: 1 – Do the walking tour. It’s $4NZD. 2 –  Don’t try to catch a baby’s nappy flying from the roof of San Pedro prison, 3 – and perhaps most importantly, don’t pass out on the streets of La Paz, Pacha Mama apparently loves gringo offerings the most. Yuck.

NB: I am now writing this part as we leave La Paz for Lake Titicaca. La Paz overall was not my favourite place. The way the city is formed is like a natural amphitheatre of houses creating a sort of bowl which is very unique but it also means the pollution and dust are quite overpowering. That combined with the altitude makes walking around the city not overly pleasant. It is a great base for the trips that we did, but I wouldn’t come here for the city alone. We might have put too many days aside between activities, and did plan to go out but I wasn’t well so that didn’t happen. It is worth saying that I didn’t feel unsafe here and there were some yum food options 🙂