Monday, 10 May 2010

La Paz - Bolivia

It was an extremely long and eventful journey from Copacabana. The driver informed us that a diversion would be necessary as a little town on the way was blockaded for a demonstration against the local mayor’s landfill policy. There’s no doubt about it, they take their politics seriously out here!

The diversion took us through many desolate areas and on some roads you could hardly call roads. After several U-turns and directions obtained from local farmers we hit a bit of a deadlock. One muddy section of track was now host to the inward and outward flow of traffic from Bolivia's capital, it seemed. I couldn’t get over the lack of communication. It was every man for himself and not even the two truck drivers who appeared to be happy risking a head on crash, if it so happened, seemed capable of a quick gesture indicating who should go first through a puddle!
Further along the journey we thought we had run into another blockade. Unfortunately, it was instead a nasty accident between a truck and a minivan. Instantly you realise you’re in a poor country. There was no ambulance on the scene, nor fire engine. It was obvious that neither were expected for a while as the locals had removed the bodies from the van and laid them on the side of the road, blankets and coats barely covering them. It was a sobering sight. There did not seem to be any survivors. I was surprised we hadn’t seen more horrific accidents on our travels.
La Paz is one busy place. It is a crowded and congested city with a million or so people hemmed in by steep hills - plus there must be as many mini-vans as there are people! It is full to the brim, so much so that its lack of further capacity has led to the expansion of El Alto, a city in itself four hundred meters above, overlooking La Paz.

La Paz is smoggy, the air is thin (especially if you're not well adjusted to the altitude - 3,600m) and you are never far from the smell of urine. But I feel perhaps I shouldn't point that out. There is something very appealing about a city that has such a buzz. There is an air of enthusiasm about the people and they are not afraid to march for their rights! The city is unthreatening too, and although in any big city you need to keep your wits about you, I never felt threatened once. 
If I had to name just one feature of La Paz it would be the markets. They are everywhere and on nearly every street. You have to dodge buses and mini-vans as there is no room for walking on the pavements. There are no supermarkets to be seen (although I've heard they have malls out of town) and so I guess people really need all these markets. My experience of them hasn't been wholly satisfying. I've bought two items; yet another pair of sunglasses and some woollen gloves. The former have already snapped and the latter have developed too many holes and loose threads to look like they'll last more than a week. Granted both purchases were cheap, but I did expect them to last more than three days! 

Unperturbed by my experience I have tried again. This time I have bought a USB MP3 player for the princely sum of £14. My iPod has finally given up the ghost and I just couldn't face the next bus journey without music or the dulcet tones of Michel Thomas to send me to sleep. 

I don't really thrive on markets. I don't like the smell of urine on the streets and I don't like smog. But for some reason I will miss La Paz.

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