La Paz was my final stop with my tour, and also my final destination in Bolivia. We arrived after a twelve hour bus journey early in the morning. Coming into at La Paz is unlike anywhere else I’ve been, the city is inside a huge basin and at just below 4000metres the highest capital in the world. The neighbouring town of El Alto hosts La Paz’s airport has a runway twice as long as normal as the air is so thin it does not provide enough resistance to slow the planes. The buildings cover and climb the huge basin, and in the distance snow capped Illimani at 6402. The outskirts of the higher end of the city are very poor, and then as you descend lower the buildings and the people change, the rich white people choosing to live lower down where it’s slightly less cold. It’s a city of striking contrasts with some beautiful old buildings surrounding by ugly blocks and sprawling red brick Lego houses. And like many other places the gap between rich and poor is unashamedly evident.

We spent our first day exploring the central market areas, including the witches market and climbed to a couple of miradors. Again having enjoyed the lower altitude of La Serena we were all back to gasping for breath especially as the city sits in a deep V shape and as soon as you start to climb the lack of oxygen is a killer. The witches market is a small area of shops where you can buy amulets, spells, and cures for luck, love, money, asthma, impotency and depression. One of the most shocking items they have to sell are dried llama babies, these are actually foetus of still born lamas and with other items are buried under your house for Pachamama to ask for good-luck. It felt a bit touristy but I saw quite a few genuine local customers buying items so definitely still a business for the witches. La Paz is also a great place for shopping for alpaca and silver, and a few of us girls made the most of it.

Day two, three of us did death road bike ride (see previous post), on our return the group went out for our last supper to a great Thai restaurant owned by a friend of our guides. I opted for a spicy curry thinking it would be like in Argentina were there are very little spices and their version of spicy would still be mild….I was WRONG! Still very tasty but think I managed to sweat all of my makeup off with everyone asking if I was ok every bite. It was a little bit of an emotional meal with everyone saying how great our group had been and what a brilliant time we’d all had. Having been quite worried about the tour before hand, all of my concerns we dismissed and I’d had way more fun, done far more things, and most all met some great people. So thank you Nancy, Deanna, Erika, Laurie and Tony!! We headed to a club for a few hours, but after the big meal and the bike tour we were pretty shattered.

Next morning the group dissolved heading their various ways, myself and Tony were both hanging round La Paz for a few more days, he waiting for his girlfriend and me just to enjoy the city a bit more. He convinced me to stay in one of the notorious big party hostels for my extra four nights, not my usual style at all, but thought why not. We chose Wild Rover..yep massive Irish bar at the centre of the place, luckily our room was only a four bed and off a courtyard far from the bar area so not too mental.

That afternoon we met up with out tour guide who had a free day, and we descended a seventeen storey hotel block face forward. It was one of those things I didn’t think about until I got up there and looked down and then thought “WTF!”. Myself and Nancy were pretty nervous about it. We all opted for the fancy dress suits versus the standard orange jumpsuit; Batman, Spider-Man and a a podgy Cat women. We had a practice inside on a small ledge and then it was time. Nancy went first and her fear on the ledge fully transferred to me, once she was moving she was off and the final twenty metres you let go of the rope and jump away from the wall to free fall before they stop you three metres from the bottom. I was up next and standing on the ledge looking down was pretty frikin scary… I didn’t hang around the top to long and once moving was fine too, I went down pretty quick so the guy taking photos only got one of me! Tony was fine, having done quite a bit of climbing previously and leapt down. It was really exhilarating, and a great view of the city from the top to. We said a final goodbye to Nancy before grabbing a siesta for our first night at the party hostel. We had a few drinks at the hostel before heading out to a better bar with some others, our taxi driver was an absolute lunatic even by South American standards. At one point we all thought we were being driven somewhere totally dodgy to be robbed and being a bit paranoid I started hiding my money in my shoes. It was fine, he was just a mental driver….

Following day after a late start we took a taxi to the highest golf course in the world. On the way we drove into the lower end of the town where the rich live in gated communities with tennis and horseriding clubs, it’s quite the contrast to the upper parts of the city. The golf course is up on hill nestled into the valley of the moons, and the entrance and location to the course is amazing! We were just there to muck around on the driving ranges, a bit of chipping and putting. I’ve not picked up a club for at least four years and after a first fluke good shot was utter pants. The back of the driving range was a cliff, whacking a ball into was pretty satisfying…all though I think only one of my shots got that far! It was a pretty surreal place to be after the intensity and chaos of the city.

Sunday afternoon after a meandering morning in the markets we went to check out Cholitas wrestling. This is something unique to La Paz, a little like WWF but even more light hearted and pantomime like. And the clincher is its not just men fighting, but women too…and not just with each other but with men also…plus the referee gets involved. It was hilarious! All the locals sit on levels of benches around the hall, and then all the tourists get the “ringside” seats, plus “free” snack, drink and souvenir postcards. I’m sure the locals paid less then fifty pence to see what cost us including transport a relative small fortune in their terms. It was definitely worth it, one of the oddest things ever. We met a couple of people on the bus, and returned to the Thai place a group of twelve for dinner…I learned from my previously mistake and girled out with a mild Malaysian curry this time. What should have been a fairly quiet Sunday night ended up in some dodgy lowlight bar till stupid O’clock and consequences were paid by all the following morning.

My last days total productivity in La Paz involved finding a Internet cafe to print my e-ticket for my following very early morning flight and packing. So my experience of the party hostel was actually ok, partly as we didn’t really hangout in the hostel too much. From a facilities side of thing, the bathrooms were spotless, every shower I had was hot (rare in La Paz),the beds huge and with duvets! Yippee! Downside for us despite being in a quiet room was our other two roommates who snored the whole night!! Ear plugs were our saviour!

So La Paz was a city of something for everyone, culture, shopping, restaurants, thrill seaking, and partying and I think I ticked all those boxes! Unfortunately I only ended up spending two weeks in total in Bolivia, and can’t believe the things I saw and did there. From the deserts, lagunas, quebradas, valleys, salt flats, highest city of Potosi, Colonial Sucre, diversity of La Paz and all the activities we did it was an amazing and fun packed time for me.