First Days in La Paz

Hi all,

Made it to La Paz, and I am already at the end of my first week in Cochabamba! Let me give a recap of my first few days in Bolivia...

First I landed in La Paz at 5am after a 24 hr travel experience from LAX to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, and Miami to La Paz. I found my way around the tiny airport easily enough and stood in line with the other extranjeros waiting for my visa. I ran into a hitch when I was told my bank issued bills had "tiny holes" in them and were rejected. A really nice couple from San Fancisco I'd been chatting with exchanged me money as neither of us could see any problems with the bills, and I was able finish paying the $160 US visa fee without the extra hassle of finding an ATM. i took interest in them immediately as the woman was holding a climbing helmet and they told me they had come to trek Potosi, do some rock climbing around the area and visit the Uyuni Salt flats. They were catching a hopper flight to Uyuni that same morning. I thanked them and wished them well. I should have grabbed their what's app number. As I took stock of my bags coming off the carousel, I realized I left my phone roaming during the fights and it was now dead! So I unpacked my bags in the bathroom to find my charger adapter to re-charge my phone. Then I went out to find the small, shabby airport pretty desolate, save a few people sitting on massage chairs and a money changer who I gladly exchanged $50 dollars for bolivianos with. I then walked outside into the dark morning with my two travel bags and my purse and said ok to the first and only taxi man who walked up to meet me. Competition was sparse, there was no one else around except for a few parked taxis with no drivers inside. We headed off on the 40 minute drive to the suburb of Achumani where I would be staying with my couch surfing host Sabine and her 13 year old daughter Eva. Both from Germany, Sabine is in her fourth year working at a local German school in Achumani. I finally arrived around 7am and rang the bell. Sabine met me warmly at the gate with a pitcher of Hot Coca tea and crackers ready. As La Paz sits at almost 12,000 ft, I began feeling ill quickly with the altitude - shaky, tingly hands, headache, dizziness, fatigue. After drinking a few pitchers of tea, taking prescribed altitude meds as well as the local sorache pills, and propping my head up, I was able to get some sleep.

In Achumani I spent time meeting Sabine's friends and colleagues, going to German and Japanese dinners, and driving out to other towns with Sabine, another couch surfer, Elza from Hungary and Sabine's friend Connie (a Bolivian woman who married a German man and lived in San Jose for 20 years). As Sabine and Connie are animal supporters, we went around feeding stray animals and picked up one dog that was pregnant and had been tossed out after giving birth. They will get her spayed and try to find a home for her. That night Elza and I rode the teleferico (the gondolas) for well over an hour over the city. Gondolas in south America are popular transit in large cities and there are 4 or more routes in La Paz alone. The city lights were really pretty and it was a few dollars to ride there and back. Unfortunately the teleferico closed a few minutes before we reached the last transfer line and we had to catch a cab the rest of the way down the mountain and home. After that I flew the next day to Cochabamba on BOA airline, a quick 30 minute hopper flight over high Andean mountains and into the valley and agricultural heart of Bolivia. Below are photos of my time in La Paz.

Mountains around La Paz

Sabine

Front window in Sabine's home