We had read and heard a lot of bad things about La Paz, so I guess we were always likely to be pleasantly surprised. I'd been totally paranoid about getting pickpocketed or having my bag slashed. I walked around the whole time wearing my big jacket with my money in an internal pocket and my bag strapped to my chest like a baby, despite it being uncomfortably warm. Unsurprisingly, we didn't have any problems and I felt like I was a disgrace to carefree backpacker culture.
We didn't do any sightseeing, but in the short time we were in La Paz, we managed to visit Namas Té vegetarian restaurant twice. Vegan items are marked on the menu. Yay food. We'll probably go back for the delicious jugs of fresh juice next time we're passing through. Yummo. The food was ok, but not worthy of more than a few words: tacos, guacamole, chips, rissoles.
We pottered around for the day after checking out of our hotel. We were booked on an overnight bus to Sucre, so had time to waste until 7pm. We kept it low key - just wandered around, had coffee and food, then back to the hotel lobby to collect our bags and steal their WiFi.
The bus was quite modern and had fully reclining comfy seats (for anyone up to about 1.75m). They are a relatively necessary luxury for a 13 hour overnight trip. Even more necessary when 13 hours becomes 17 hours due to roadworks blocking the road for 4 hours from midnight. The bus just stopped, turned off the engine, and the driver said nothing. Ever. We only found out what was going on by overhearing key words from other passengers, like 'puta', 'cuatros horas' and 'blockiera'.
We got to Sucre around 1130am and went looking for a taxi. A helpful sign told us the maximum agreed fare to city addresses. It also warned us to beware of 'fuked policemen' who might ask for our passports in an attempt to steal them or our money. That would have been fuked for sure.
As a result of the bus delay, the woman who had been waiting to let us into our apartment wasn't there. This was inconvenient. We had a couple of phone numbers for her, but no phone to call from. We found a nearby hostel where the dude only spoke Spanish (how dare he?) and asked to use the phone. He was really helpful and tried the numbers we had. No answer.
We also had a number for a guy in the US who owns the place, but weren't going to ask the dude to call a US number out of charity, especially when we were unable to adequately explain why we were trying to make these calls. We decided to book into the hostel for the night. The dude showed us a double room with an ash tray in it. I told him we wanted non-smoking, so he showed us a twin room with an identical ash tray. We took it.
I tried to call the guy in the US from the hostel room, but international calling was blocked. So I went to the computer in the lobby to email him a revised plan. The internet was so slow it wouldn't load my hotmail account. Eventually I remembered that he had a web form to contact him with enquiries about the apartment. Thankfully it worked and he called me at the hostel to sort out access. Bit of a trial though.
We've just booked in for two weeks of Spanish lessons commencing Monday. Looking forward to being able to communicate a bit better and sit in one place while we get used to S. America.
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