After a very bumpy 8 hour night bus, we found ourselves in the Bolivia’s biggest city: La Paz. Having spent the previous 2 weeks in isolated dusty towns and cities, we were happy to be back in a (relatively) modern city. We checked in to an Irish themed hostel called the “Wild Rover” and immediately ordered two cups of Barry’s Tea :) The hostel did live up to its name of being Wild...it was full of party people(there was a Fr Ted costume party one night) but we were glad of the distraction since most of the places we had stayed in up to now were very quiet.
The city of La Paz is a lot more scenic than we were expecting. It is basically built within a valley, with the central business district down along a strip in the centre and buildings extending up the three sides of the valley walls (it’s almost like a bowel). Towards the open end, there are views towards the massive snow-capped Illimani Mountain. There were some terrific views of the city from the upper rim. We took an interesting walking tour from the top of the rim down to the markets at bottom one day. It’s funny but a lot of the buildings are incomplete and some neighbourhoods do resemble a building site – people will be living in houses which are still under
construction. The reason is that they pay a lot higher tax once the building has been completed, so they will often never complete the building to save money. When you’ve travelled a bit, a lot of cities can seem the same, but one of the more unusual things we found in the markets in La Paz were Llama foetuses – yes, unborn llamas!
Apparently these are used by some of the indigenous people for rituals whenever they build a new house....they plant it under the ground where they will build the house as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). We also learned that every year, the Bolivian people have a big carnival (similar to Brazil’s but different dances) with elaborate costumes that cost a fortune (a few thousand Euro for one costume!) and they have a new one every year. No wonder they are so poor! We didn’t see the carnival but we saw the crazy costume shops.
There is a prison in the centre of La Paz called San Pedro Prison (on which the book “Marching Powder” is based – soon to be a movie starring Brad Pitt). It is a very interesting place because the prison operates like a mini capitalist society: when prisoners enter, they have nothing and must sleep on the floor. If they want a cell with a bed then they must pay rent. Bigger cells command a
higher rent. Even nicer cells have flat-screen tvs! Some of the prisoners even pay for additional beds so that their families (including children) can live in the prison with them. There is a restaurant in there also, and the prisoners can even pay to be released for the day (escorted by guards of course). Apparently, one of the wealthier prisoners had a second floor constructed on his cell at the top of the prison so that he could have nice views over the city. So how do the prisoners make their money? The prison is a highly-organised cocaine factory. They also run unofficial tours of the prison which involves paying some bribe money for the guards and being escorted around the various areas by an inmate. As we circled the outside of the prison, we were offered one such tour but declined (our guidebook warns against them and besides, we had too much valuables on us) but afterwards, we spoke with a few travellers who had taken the tour and highly recommended it (the tourists are protected inside because they represent a very lucrative income stream) but we didn’t get the opportunity to go back :(
The city of La Paz is a lot more scenic than we were expecting. It is basically built within a valley, with the central business district down along a strip in the centre and buildings extending up the three sides of the valley walls (it’s almost like a bowel). Towards the open end, there are views towards the massive snow-capped Illimani Mountain. There were some terrific views of the city from the upper rim. We took an interesting walking tour from the top of the rim down to the markets at bottom one day. It’s funny but a lot of the buildings are incomplete and some neighbourhoods do resemble a building site – people will be living in houses which are still under
construction. The reason is that they pay a lot higher tax once the building has been completed, so they will often never complete the building to save money. When you’ve travelled a bit, a lot of cities can seem the same, but one of the more unusual things we found in the markets in La Paz were Llama foetuses – yes, unborn llamas! 
Apparently these are used by some of the indigenous people for rituals whenever they build a new house....they plant it under the ground where they will build the house as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). We also learned that every year, the Bolivian people have a big carnival (similar to Brazil’s but different dances) with elaborate costumes that cost a fortune (a few thousand Euro for one costume!) and they have a new one every year. No wonder they are so poor! We didn’t see the carnival but we saw the crazy costume shops.
higher rent. Even nicer cells have flat-screen tvs! Some of the prisoners even pay for additional beds so that their families (including children) can live in the prison with them. There is a restaurant in there also, and the prisoners can even pay to be released for the day (escorted by guards of course). Apparently, one of the wealthier prisoners had a second floor constructed on his cell at the top of the prison so that he could have nice views over the city. So how do the prisoners make their money? The prison is a highly-organised cocaine factory. They also run unofficial tours of the prison which involves paying some bribe money for the guards and being escorted around the various areas by an inmate. As we circled the outside of the prison, we were offered one such tour but declined (our guidebook warns against them and besides, we had too much valuables on us) but afterwards, we spoke with a few travellers who had taken the tour and highly recommended it (the tourists are protected inside because they represent a very lucrative income stream) but we didn’t get the opportunity to go back :(
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