Arriving in La Paz
We left the unfriendly 'one llama town' of Uyuni in a hurry by taking the night bus to La Paz. This was probably the worst bus ride of our lives. The road was almost entirely 4x4 territory, but somehow our bus driver managed to bounce us all the way to La Paz (about 350km away), some 10 hours later.
La Paz has had some bad publicity recently about various scams to separate travellers from their money and belongings as well as two Austrian travellers that were murdered. Johan had (off course) a detailed security plan to prevent these things from happening to us. Coming from South Africa, we are also much more careful with our belongings and always alert to safety in general. The downtown area (where most travellers stay) is now constantly patrolled by the tourist police for added security. I must add that we never felt unsafe at all.
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 3600m above sea level. Some 2 million inhabitants live in and along the edge of a huge beautiful basin. Interesting to note that the poorer people live higher with better views and the richer people live lower with no views at all!
Bolivia is very cheap by almost any standard. Internet is about R1.50 (US$0.25) per hour and a three course meal for two (including drinks) costs about R60 (US$10).
We are currently doing a crash course in conversational Spanish. Be warned, the next blog may be in Spanish!
La Paz has had some bad publicity recently about various scams to separate travellers from their money and belongings as well as two Austrian travellers that were murdered. Johan had (off course) a detailed security plan to prevent these things from happening to us. Coming from South Africa, we are also much more careful with our belongings and always alert to safety in general. The downtown area (where most travellers stay) is now constantly patrolled by the tourist police for added security. I must add that we never felt unsafe at all.
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 3600m above sea level. Some 2 million inhabitants live in and along the edge of a huge beautiful basin. Interesting to note that the poorer people live higher with better views and the richer people live lower with no views at all!
Bolivia is very cheap by almost any standard. Internet is about R1.50 (US$0.25) per hour and a three course meal for two (including drinks) costs about R60 (US$10).
We are currently doing a crash course in conversational Spanish. Be warned, the next blog may be in Spanish!
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