Hello Bolivia - Exploring La Paz

Leaving Cusco behind, I hopped on a plane to Bolivia where I got amazing views over Lake Titikaka. More specifically, I flew to La Paz, one of the highest cities in the world at 3650m above sea level. The first few days, I just chilled out, partied in my hostel, explored the valley of the moon with a few friends, watched the US presidential election and made a plan for the upcoming weeks.

That is because I would not be travelling alone through Bolivia. Joining me was Maria from Antigua, Guatemala. Remember the little heartbreak a few months ago when we had to say goodbye to each other in my favorite place in the world? So I was very happy when Maria decided to join me and explore Bolivia together. It would be her first proper trip aboard, so I was determined to make it an unforgettable one - for her, for me and for us together.

So, I picked her up from the airport at 3am in the morning and after a relatively short nights sleep, we joined a morning walking tour through the city to learn about the history of the country, the city, its culture and to just see the sights La Paz had to offer.

All I can say is that Bolivia and La Paz seem to be very interesting places. From learning about their crazy presidents (which country used to have a foreigner as a president?) and one of the world's most dangerous prisons (you used to be able to spend a night there as a visitor), to riding a high-tech cable car build by the Swiss to connect various areas of the mountains city (under the condition that the repair/inspections is done by the Swiss) to eating local fruits/snacks, visiting the witches market in El Alto at an altitude of 4150m and getting educated about its rather strange traditions for western standards (under each house is a dead llama or llama fetus depending on the size of the house). It was super interesting, even if a bit bizarre at times. Maria must have thought: "what the hell did I sign up for here?“

To smooth things out, after the interesting tour, we went to have lunch at a very nice restaurant, Cocina Popular, that was recommended to me and we had a delicious three-course meal for just $12 each. Absolute gem!

For the rest of the day, we didn't do much more than planning the next few days in La Paz and resting given the relatively short night we had. We were also starting to mentally prepare ourselves for the following day, as we booked ourselves on a mountain bike tour along the infamous Death Road.

In essence, we had a great first day in La Paz, getting a feel for the city, catching up and yeah, just being happy to see each other and spending time together.Read more