La Paz

After our tour of Lake Titicaca, we crossed the border to Bolivia through Copacabana. I learned a couple of interesting things in the crossing. First of all, it is a pain to be an American crossing into Bolivia. I had to wait in 4 lines, get 8 photocopies of my passport and vaccine card (apparently other nationalities are immune to yellow fever. Only Americans needed to show the card), and pay $135US for a visa. Second, Bolivians still harbor some lingering resentment against Chile for taking their last access to the ocean. The text on the mural reads "that which was ours will be ours once again." Apparently, Bolivia plans on taking back the shoreline from Chile by stabbing them in throats with bayonetts.

Megan, Christie and I expanded the group for a couple of days with our new American friends from the bus: Chris and Ravi. Chris and Ravi were doing a (relatively) quick tour of Peru and Bolivia.

The word on La Paz is that there are some very pretty parts of the city and interesting things to see, but there are also some parts that are very unsafe for foreigners. Our bus decided to forgo a trip to the bus terminal and left us in the middle of town. We were immediately approached by a helpful "policeman" who wanted to direct us to a hostel and spoke privately to every cab driver who approached us. We did not accept his help. We ended up staying in a hostel close to the main plaza. Where we got the chance to watch the changing of the guard:

One of La Paz's best features are its extensive outdoor markets. We spent several hours wandering through the black market (shoes, electronics, kitchen supplies, etc...) and a nearby food market:

But the most interesting market was far and away the Witch's Market. Here we found a lot of touristy clothing (Che t-shirts, alpaca hats and gloves...), but we also saw the makings of Aymara ritual sacrifices to Pachamama (Mother Earth). Apparently, if you burn an offering to Pachamama, she will respond by granting you what you wish (up to twice the value you burned). The centerpiece of any respectable offering is, of course, a desiccated llama fetus, which were plentifully available in the market:

The hostel we stayed at (Wild Rover) was huge, and organized trips to bars every night. Chris, Megan, myself, Ravi, Christie and a mystery girl out on the town: