La Paz

You woud have thought that traveling on a night bus wouldn´t shock us anymore, but on our journey to La Paz we were in utter disbelief. If an earthquake was a form of transport then we were surely sat in one, with every bolt, nut and screw rattling their way out as the tyres shuddered over the rough terrain constantly ejecting us from our seats as though on a fairground ride in the dark. Laura typically had the one chair on the bus that woudn´t recline from its upright position and to make matters worse we were sat above a heater which fizzled us into crispy bacon. 13 hours on and we were pleased to see the capital coming into view.

La Paz instantly looked stunning with the snow topped Mount Illamani overlooking the stadium-like canyon jammed with buildings all the way up it as far as our eyes coud see. At the bus station we took a taxi to our pre-chosen hotel east of the Prado and were dropped off right in the middle of a road swamped with locals fishing through piles of stacked up clothes colourfully decorating the street. Behind every mound of material were rows of grinning gold teethed women with long plaits dangling from their black bowler hats, wrapped in layers of multicoloured woven ware.

After navigating passed the stalls and traffic that was trying to squeeze through we checked into our hotel. The ony room available was not yet clean so we headed staright back out to find some breakfast. What we found was super cheap and even more filling but our bus journey had still left us feeing quite traumatised. We headed back to the hotel where our bed was ready to crash out in. I instantly fell asleep but somehow Laura managed to stay awake and watch two films in a row on cable. Just as the third movie was about to begin we thought it best to venture out and see what we had actually come to see.

With the altitude here being 3660 metres high and our lungs still trying to adjust we walked slowly around the maze of steep alleyways taking our time to inspect the delights of the Mercado de Brujas- the Witches Market. Amongst the various potions and remedies by far the strangest items were the disturbing dried llama fetuses- something the locals place under the grounds of their newly built homes to bring good fortune. Lucky or not it wasn´t a gift I fancied bringing home to the family and I´m not sure what customs would have said.

Away from the spells led us to some seriously potentially pocket emptying shops. In particular were the fantastic racks of musical instruments on sale, from violins to beautiful sounding charangos, an overflowing supply of brightly patterned yet tasteful Bolivian woven clothes, intriguing masks buried under Inca treasures and shops full of hip decorative ornaments, cushion covers and stylish bed throws that could transform our future London flat into designer heaven. Eitherway we decided not to fork out for anything just yet and return the next day with fresh heads on knowing what we really wanted or needed. It did appear that La Paz was going to be a splendid place to buy presents for back home as long as we could cram everything into our bulging rucksacks.

We spent hours nosing around until Laura´s bladder demanded we return to our room. We aimed to be a few minutes before we headed out again but our lack of sleep got the better of us. After a very lazy dinner of jelly and a chocolate wafer we were out like a light.

The followng morning Laura woke me at some ungodly hour saying she couldn´t sleep and was ready for breakfast and a days worth of shopping. An hour later after reviving myself on some good grub I too was eager to hunt back through yesterdays market gems. By lunchtime we had done incredibly well with our arms weighed down with bags full of goodies. Over an absurdly cheap three course meal that cost us 3 pounds each (I tried llama meat- bloody good it was) we discussed a few items that we´d spotted in the shops that we fancied for ourselves. We knew we were unable to resist and decided to trash our budget for the month. Laura had eyed up a rather modest warm hoodie for a tenner, but I had fallen for an electric charango which cost 160 pounds!! Knowing this would be my ony opportunity to buy one or have to shell out three times the price at home we decided to ruddy well go for it. However, when we returned to the shop it had shut and wasn´t going to reopen until we had caught a bus out of here. For some reason this spurred us on and we spent the next couple of hours trawling the other music shops, determined to find something just as perfect. Thankfully we found something even better, and for 40 pounds less- that night on my bed I was more than a little excited to have an instrument in my hands after 8 months on air guitar and knee tapping. I slept a happy boy.

An even earlier start the following morning saw us on a bus with no breakfast (as no where had yet opened) heading to Bolivia´s most significant archaeological site- Tiahuanaco. Whether it was the lack of food or caffeine I don´t know, but our heads felt like melted cheese covered in gravy. Before seeing the ceremonial site we were taken around two museums, taken around painfully slowly that is with our enthusiastic guide Fred stopping outside each cabinet to explain every content with his thick accent. We only managed to understand one word in every three and every time he spoke he would curl his flared nostrils into the air and lengthen his teeth rather like a donkey. He really was trying his best and used his body parts to full potential crawling on his hands and knees, doing karate chops, taking off clothes and wrapping them around himself like a mummy but it was all a bit too much this early in the morning for what was clearly a set of very tired travellers with rumbling tummies. Another annoyance was that he kept saying we could go off and have ten minutes to take photos but then instantly gather everyone for another lecture, it went on and non. Laura was getting even more frustrated with two German men rapidly chomping on their chewing gum like they hadn´t eaten in days.

Our guide finally took us outside to the main site which was far more interesting than the museum but still managed to fall under our most boring tour on this trip. We hated being so uninterested in something so important in Bolivia´s culture but compared to what we have seen already it didn´t come close. The terraced buildings that had been unearthed gave a glimpse of the past life, as did the sun gate and some fascinating totems depicting priests or leaders from the time- but we saw it all with 10 others also stood around, straining to understand Fred and a hot sun beating down on us- what a shame we hadn´t come here on our own so that the figures might have intrigued us more and the lack of chomping Germans would have given our imaginations more to think about.

None the less, we enjoyed our time in La Paz. It didn´t overwhelm us the same way other places in Bolivia have but it was a pleasant stop made all the more enjoyable by the Christmas shopping like expedition that has made us even more excited to see everyone´s faces soon.