My Day Off

Since the Internet at my hotel turned out to be one computer in the lobby and not WiFi, I decided to take a day and do some blogging at an Internet store.  There are many such places in the neighbourhood but since I spend my days touring I haven't spent time in them.  Normally, I would have headed for my hotel after supper and spent the evening working on the computer.

I got settled in and started uploading pictures.  Shortly, I got the message that my Picasa account was full.  It was a cheap deal to get more space but would take 24 hours to be effective.  OK, no problem.

Outside the computer store which is near my hostel I look across the street.  You can see some of the local vendors shops in the foreground.

Beside me is the pedestrian overpass which crosses that street and leads into what they call the shopping street.

I decided to walk that way and ended up at pigeon square again, Plaza Murillo.

I came here with the specific purpose of checking out the Cathedral.  There was a service in progress so I didn't venture near the front but the reason I had come was to look at the stained glass.  I was told that it contained images of political figures and National heroes rather than Saints.

If you enlarge this photo you can see that some of the people shown at the bottom of the window are wearing modern suits.  So it is true.  The person who told me about this believes it to be rather rare.

Here is the theater on the same Plaza.

Today was my day for poor choices.  I decided to walk over to Calle Jaen next where there were four Museums, however it was Monday and none of them were open.  Here I am heading toward the street and going to turn right on the corner.

The street is nicely cobbelstoned and the buildings have a European feel.  I wandered through the gift and artesian stores and stopped at a Bistro for a coffee at a street table.

Later walking back to the Hostel I marvelled at how these locals formed an organized line and boarded the taxi-vans in dignified order  (and without any direction from anyone). 

Back at the Witches Market near my Hostel I am looking down on a merchant selling Coca leaves in bulk.

I was able to get inside the San Francisco Museum today but was not allowed to take pictures inside.  A view looking up towards the roof.

Interesting window.

The staircase to the bell tower.

A view down from the tower.

I was actually able to get on the roof from there.

Back on the ground I took this shot of a typical electrical instalment.  Every corner has a tangle of wires held together in some fashion.

The day is winding down and this is my local corner.  You can see the shoe-shine guy in the foreground.  Funny, they all wear ski masks, even when they are not working.

I am heading to the ruins of Tihuanacu tomorrow, my last day in La Paz.

Death Road to Coroico

 It started out innocently enough with a tour described as follows: Eco - Tourism in Coroico  We reach la Cumbre, 4700 meters above sea level, in order to descend to 1,700 meters above sea level, we will have the option to discover its exotic flora and Coroico's incomparable landscape. 
Well, that isn't exactly how it goes down.  The travel agency did say that we would be going down on the "old road" which was very scenic and back on the new highway.  What they don't tell you is that the old road is also known as the "Death Road" due to the number of fatalities it has caused.

Strangely, I was the only guest on this tour with a driver and a guide.  When we reached the top of the first and highest mountain the driver opened the window and sprinkled alcohol on the road.  This practice is an offering asking the spirits for safe passage.

I still didn't grasp the situation until we zipped off the highway onto a tiny gravel road.  Here we stopped at a lookout for pictures.  You can see the driver standing beside our van.

The guard rail at the lookout was a snake.

That little road over there in the clouds....thats where we are headed.

Soon the guide starts in with "This is the most dangerous road in the world!" and I ask him how he knows that.  He tells me it is from National Geographic.  Now I am not very happy and where I should be enjoying the views I am sitting with my eyes covered.  The guide asks if I would like to sit on the other side of the car but I tell him that if we are going over the side it is quite likely that both sides of the car will be going.  So we stay where we are.

We have 35 kms of this road to drive.  We are making good time, somewhere between 5 and 20 km/hr.  Every once in a while the guide would mention a precipice of note and I could look straight down hundreds of feet to the valley below.

The views were actually beautiful.

This is my cheerful guide.

This road used to be the only road between La Paz and Coroico.  In those days trucks and buses went both ways on it and not always successfully.  I really would not want to meet a bus on this corner.

Getting a little breather....no cliff here.

The views are lovely.

On and on it goes.

Finally, we are coming to Coroico!

It turns out that there isn't much to see here except typical narrow streets and a market.

A horse with no middle!

A church.

A nice flowering shrub on the square.

After seeing the town we make another little trip down the hill to see some fruit trees.  One look at the road and I think "here we go again!"  There are a couple of fruit trees and some chickens  I will admit that the vegetation is different down at this level though..  There are also some lovely birds but the driver doesn't know what they are.  He did point out many fields of coca on the trip though.  So much for Eco tour.
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The best part were the views.  Too bad the road was so bad I could hardly look.

We stopped for a nice lunch at the Hotel Esmeralda just outside of Coroico.  It is a nice hotel with a pool, sauna and relaxing atmosphere with a great view.

From here we headed back to La Paz on the new highway.   Here is a view of La Paz from above as we come back to town.

The guide told me that there are a lot of bike tours using the road.  They come by van out to the start of the gravel road and they start the ride there, going downhill all the way.  Aparently not all the bikes you rent for this ride are in good condition and one needs to be careful about that.  I actually think the road would be more enjoyable on a reliable bike than in a car.

A Day with Mariana and Family in La Paz

Mariana picked me up from my hostel and we made a plan to take the double-decker city tour bus out to Luna Valle, so named due to the likeness to lunar landscape.

But first, we ran up the street and grabbed a special treat called Saltinas.  They are a pastry filled with a meat mixture.  Delicious.

This is Mariana in the foreground.

Then we ran to get to Plaza Isabel la Catalica in time to catch the tour bus.

A shot from the bus as we head south out of the city.

The cliffs in the area are sand.

Here is Mariana as we enter the valley.

They say that every time it rains the valley changes as sand is washed away and new formations are created.

It was beautiful and considered to be a sacred site to the locals.

You can see houses built on the top of the ridge.  This is not always a good plan as the rains can cause slides causing the houses to fall.  Shortage of available land for houses is an issue.

One type of cactus found here.

There were narrow pathways we walked on between the peaks which looked quite prone to being removed by a hard rain.

This hole goes down quite a way and it is the route by which the rain water leaves taking huge amounts of sand with it.

Another view, another cactus.

After the tour Mariana took me home for lunch with her family.

After lunch Mariana and husband Miguel drove me around to see places of interest in the city.

Here we are on a lookout hill where we see an old gate at the entrance.

Miguel bought a bag of sweetened popped corn from this woman.  She was crying because we were her first sale of the day, but there wern't very many people out on the hill.  It tasted like sugar pops.

A view down the hill from a window in a stone column.

A view looking south down the hill.

Miguel and Mariana.

After they droped me off I walked over the overpass to the shopping street near my place.  Looking down on the beautiful boulevard.
I found a Copacobana Chicken place to have supper.  Mariana is right it is at least as good as KFC.

Tomorrow I am taking a day off and hopefully I will get some progress on catching up lost time blogging.