The city of La Paz stretches on as far as you can see through the mountains - the houses go up and down over the peaks like a carpet.
The mercado (market) was was exciting. In the background you can see the Iglasia San Francisco. There are miles of booths and narrow streets behind the church filled with vendors. You can buy almost anything here of course! The main market is Plaza Murillo, but there are others including the Mercado de la Brujas - or "Witches Market" where you can buy love potions and dried llama fetuses to bury at the corner of your new house for luck (not so lucky for the llama though). It is difficult to say where one market ends and the next begins - it is really one big market.
Aodhan eating Churros covered with icing sugar!. Usually they cut them up into little short pieces, but Aodhan wanted the whole thing! They also sell bog flat ones - like beavertails or elephant ears. This churros ring cost about 3 Bolivianos which is less than 50 cents.
They had this cool gyroscope set up. The guy truns you in it for about 5 minutes for 5 Bs (a bit less than $1) The boys had a great time.
There were other rides - we didn't go on these ones - they were the first motorized rides we had seen in Bolivia. Most rides are turned by hand. I think these must be vintage 1920!
Our hotel room in downtown La Paz. It was pretty cheap - 100 Bs for the night. (less than $20). Small, but relatively clean - no sign of bugs! and a private bathroom in the room.
We found a nice little Thai, Indian and Japanese (ok - Asian) restaurant on Calle Sagarnaga. I definitely recommend it if anyone is in La Paz
This is the bus terminal and the lights of La Paz from my downtown hotel.
The bus terminal in the daytime.
little La Paz houses clinging to the mountainside. Notice the stairs at the right for people to get up the the higher level houses - there are many of these. People must be in great shape running up these stairs. Remember, La Paz is at 3500 metres - so the air is a little thin and you tire easily.
This is the interior of one of the buildings downtown on Santa Cruz I think. It has a travel agency and a hotel inside. This is the travel agent we will use for our tour when Greg comes.
One of the colourful buildings on the outskirts of La Paz. They love their coloured glass - especially green and blue. Left over from some US skyscraper?
This lady at the market was selling popcorn made from the large South American corn. Now that's what I call a bag of popcorn!
This little girl is about 10 -11 years old. She was selling candies and gum from a little flat box that she carried around. She posed for me for a few coins. I had mixed feellings about this photo, because I realised that many of these kids are so desparate that they would do more than pose for a photo for a few coins.
Lots of people in Bolivia still dress in their traditional clothing. I still haven't figured out how they keep their hats on. Some of them use hairpins, but some just seem to balance their hats.
These little kids were singing and dancing their little hearts out for a few coins. I saw them a few times, but I didn't see too many people giving them money. I would be surprised if they made $1 for their whole days effort.
The mercado (market) was was exciting. In the background you can see the Iglasia San Francisco. There are miles of booths and narrow streets behind the church filled with vendors. You can buy almost anything here of course! The main market is Plaza Murillo, but there are others including the Mercado de la Brujas - or "Witches Market" where you can buy love potions and dried llama fetuses to bury at the corner of your new house for luck (not so lucky for the llama though). It is difficult to say where one market ends and the next begins - it is really one big market.
Aodhan eating Churros covered with icing sugar!. Usually they cut them up into little short pieces, but Aodhan wanted the whole thing! They also sell bog flat ones - like beavertails or elephant ears. This churros ring cost about 3 Bolivianos which is less than 50 cents.
They had this cool gyroscope set up. The guy truns you in it for about 5 minutes for 5 Bs (a bit less than $1) The boys had a great time.
There were other rides - we didn't go on these ones - they were the first motorized rides we had seen in Bolivia. Most rides are turned by hand. I think these must be vintage 1920!
Our hotel room in downtown La Paz. It was pretty cheap - 100 Bs for the night. (less than $20). Small, but relatively clean - no sign of bugs! and a private bathroom in the room.
We found a nice little Thai, Indian and Japanese (ok - Asian) restaurant on Calle Sagarnaga. I definitely recommend it if anyone is in La Paz
This is the bus terminal and the lights of La Paz from my downtown hotel.
The bus terminal in the daytime.
little La Paz houses clinging to the mountainside. Notice the stairs at the right for people to get up the the higher level houses - there are many of these. People must be in great shape running up these stairs. Remember, La Paz is at 3500 metres - so the air is a little thin and you tire easily.
This is the interior of one of the buildings downtown on Santa Cruz I think. It has a travel agency and a hotel inside. This is the travel agent we will use for our tour when Greg comes.
One of the colourful buildings on the outskirts of La Paz. They love their coloured glass - especially green and blue. Left over from some US skyscraper?
This lady at the market was selling popcorn made from the large South American corn. Now that's what I call a bag of popcorn!
This little girl is about 10 -11 years old. She was selling candies and gum from a little flat box that she carried around. She posed for me for a few coins. I had mixed feellings about this photo, because I realised that many of these kids are so desparate that they would do more than pose for a photo for a few coins. 
Lots of people in Bolivia still dress in their traditional clothing. I still haven't figured out how they keep their hats on. Some of them use hairpins, but some just seem to balance their hats.
These little kids were singing and dancing their little hearts out for a few coins. I saw them a few times, but I didn't see too many people giving them money. I would be surprised if they made $1 for their whole days effort.
Comments