La Paz

We arrive early in the morning, and for he first time Mark and I have not prebooked a hostel. In hindsight this is maybe not a good idea, but we agree to follow a coule of uys off the bus who have one booked.Its about a 15minute walk from the station, but i have to say the altitude is still bothering me. We are at 3500m above sea level and the oxygen content is about 70%, so the slightest bit of exercise leaves me breathless. As we walk along the street its very appaent how much bigger this city is and the fumes here are also greater , hey certainly dont have emission testing here. When we arrive at the hostel there are no rooms, and even the guys that have prebooked are told that there reservation isnt confirmed. Luckily here is another hostel direcly opposite and whil i wait with he bags Mark goes over and gets us booked in. We have a double room(surprise surprise) but to be honest after the bus ride and the party hostel i am ready for a good nights sleep. We take a little wonder around the area surrounding the hostel. The Presidents residence dominates the plaza close to us and is drowned with military and body guards to a point we are asked to cross the street instead of walking in front. We make our way down to the centre taking a short walk round the market which is packed with stalls selling various wares from household items to flower stalls to fruit veg and meat stalls. The crazy part is that all the flower stalls are together , the same with the fruit etc etc , its a shock any of them make a living. We casually walk around the square taking in the huge Sebastian Cathedral, and somehow ending up in the English bar. We have a couple of games of pool and Mark thrashes me, a quick bite to eat and then more exploring of the city. The place is so big and the traffic situation is crazy, I've nearly been runover 3 times and we've only been here a few hours. Mark lost his knee support so for a couple of hours we go into every chemist looking for one, but to no avail, then luckily I spot a sports shop selling trophies etc and asked in there, Mark now has support again and I'm glad because he's really struggled this past few weeks. We head back to the hostel and share a few beers when outside I hear a commotion as I go to the entrance a girl is out cold lying in the entrance of the hostel, I grab a pillow, and ask for a glass of water, I'm pretty scared as her eyes are irratic beneath her eyelids and she is out cold for a good 4 mins or so, then she wakes up and isn't even aware what happened, I take her into the hostel and sit her down, apparently she has had these quite regularly back home but they can't find anything wrong, but I insist she needs to go back to her doctor when she gets back to Switzerland. Mummying duties done for the day and Mark not even noticed me missing I head back, finish off my beer and retire to bed.Read more