We were warned about La Paz. We were told that it was a dangerous city. Told that the market at El Alto was amazing but that we would definitely get robbed by being spit on while another person ran up and grabbed our things after pretending to clean the spit off our backs. We were told that it was a dirty city with nothing but noise and taxis to be offered and that we would probably get food poisoning while visiting. We planned to stay only a day or two since we would surely hate it , but we liked it so much that we stayed 2 weeks.
Rest In La Paz
Since we are trying to save money wherever we can, we planned to couch-surf in La Paz. With couch-surfing you really have to be flexible because, though you may contact the person beforehand and read everything you can on their profile, you never know what you will get. There is a chance they may live farther from anything cool in the city or that their home is a total wreck and you have to sleep on the floor. In La Paz, we hit the jackpot. We arrived in the evening and called the host from a pay phone. He told us to come over cause he was home. The taxi took us to Sopacachi, a hip neighborhood about 5 min cab ride from the city center.
Our host lived on the top floor of an apartment building next to the Ritz. He was very generous and throughout the week let us cook in his house and gave us many recommendations about the city. It was a great home base and there were many cool bars around his neighborhood.
One awesome thing about La Paz is the empanada street carts. Ladies arrive around 10 am to set up there stands with a variety of fried meat and veggie pockets of deliciousness. At about 12, little crowds of students and businessmen cluster around the stands and load up on the free toppings. Things like pickled carrots, hot salsa, chopped tomatoes and a special peanut sauce sit on top of the stand next to napkins and glass bottles of Coca cola. Never underestimate the power of free salsas. It really makes for a special snack. All for the price of 5 bolivianos, or about 80 U.S. cents.
City-Walking
A great thing to do in any new city is take a free walking your. In South America these have really grown in popularity. I’m sure they exist in the U.S. and it’s something I will take advantage of whenever I can. The guides make money at the end when you are offered the chance to leave a donation. Our guide was a cute little British woman who had been living in La Paz for twenty years. She really knew a lot about the culture and politics, and with the election happening the weekend we were there, it was really interesting to hear about all the political history that had led Bolivia to this point.
Bolivia is actually in a really great place, from what I gathered. After decades of dictatorship and political unrest, usually settled by a beheading or a coup, Bolivia has it’s first steady, mostly democratically elected president. Though Evo Morales has earned a reputation for going off script during speeches, disliking the U.S. and Coca cola while learning how to be a politician as he goes along, this former coca leaf farmer from the countryside has done some good. He’s particularly known for bringing about legal equality and social change for the country’s large indigenous population, who has suffered much oppression throughout history. High approval rates be damned, Evo still thinks the U.S. Invented gravity to keep the Incans down.
Latin American Feminism
Surprising in Latin America but La Paz is definitely a feminist city. Most of the businesses, market stands and shop fronts are run by the women of the families. Most of these women wake up early, braid their dark hair in two braids, put on their many layered colonial skirts and perch one of those tiny bowler hats on their heads and head out to manage the finances. Many of them run the veggie or fruit stands at the market and gossip all day long to the other mamitas while selling their goods. Most of the men in the city drive taxis. Women are everywhere and it’s clear that they keep the city running, whether it is by working a healing stand at the witches market, blending up a delicious fruit juice at the food market or selling Bolivian souvenirs on the street, the city has a good vibe.
One of the new construction projects of Evo’s presidency is the Teleferico. It is a system of elevated tram cars that connect the city about one hundred feet in the air. There are three lines and they look and feel a lot like really nice enclosed ski lifts. Each car holds around 8 people and a one way ride costs 3 bolivianos. This type of transportation is the only real option for La Paz due to the cities very jumbled and cluttered design. There is literally no way to do an underground subway and the streets are already full of taxis and big busses carting everyone around. The carts are really efficient and offer a great view of the city this city that was built in a valley with rocks and hillsides if great sand resembling a lunar landscape.
Moonscapes
Leigh and I took an excursion to the jungle town of Coroico for a weekend and I did the famous Death Road bike tour. We spent some days hiking around this beautiful area and swam in the river. From La Paz there are many little towns nearby to visit, so we took advantage of that.
We returned to the city and took the tram up to the market one Sunday morning and spent all our money. Well, a sizable chunk was spent, and ironically on used clothes and shoes discarded from the U.S. It felt rather odd digging through piles of clothes that still had tags from Savers and Goodwill attached, but we found such good and cheap stuff! Leigh and I also had some of the best, authentic Bolivian food we could find in La Paz. Evidently, the La Paz market is where all the clogs and Barbies of the world go to die. Piles upon piles of shoes line the streets of the El Alto market and I’m sure I saw some old dolls of mine from the 1990’s waving their sad Barbie arms at me saying, “hola, amiga”.
All in all, La Paz is a great city. I don’t think I could live there, far too many people, but I really liked visiting. Even without the Teleferico, transportation is really easy. I never waited more than 30 seconds for a minibus to drive by in the direction I needed. You simply hop on and hop off when you get to your stop. It’s really cheap too, like 2 bolivianos. The food is good, the people are nice, the traditional dress is more and more popular among the women and all the markets are great.
Alyssa Maunders
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