Somehow my time in Bolivia is at its end already. It was only to be a short side trip, but I feel a little cheated that I have barely seen the country.
After our time in the Uyuni pub (drinking ourselves not quite into oblivion, well at least not the girls), we boarded the overnight train to Oruro where we were to connect to a bus to La Paz. I didn't sleep very well as I was a little concerned as to whether I'd ever see my backpack again. The system they had....who am I kidding? There was no system. Just people speaking rapid Spanish and not attempting to let us know what was going on. Shifting us from place to place and not letting us put our bags on the train until it was about to pull out, and just chucking them on without any tickets. Insert Marge sound here.
Thankfully my concern was ill placed and my backpack made it safe and sound into Oruro, which admittedly I didn't see much of, apart from a glorious sunrise as we pulled into town. We made a beeline for the train station and jumped onto a bus for La Paz.
After getting into the hostel (complete with wi-fi, a luxury I was not expecting) we went to investigate La Paz. It has a strong cultural beauty, with many indigenous women walking around, selling their wares at stalls. They wear multi-coloured pleated skirts with a top generally made from alpaca and a little more plain than their skirts. In addition to this, they have a beautifully vivid blanket/shawl which they tie around their shoulders to use as a sling to carry their belongings/wares/children. Add a bowlers hat atop their shabbily plaited hair and subtract several teeth from their lined faces that have seen much and you have a native Bolivian woman. They are just so beautiful.
La Paz consists of markets, markets and more markets. Everything from Alpaca clothing, pirated DVDs, fake brand-name clothing, footwear, perfume...the list goes on to even include llama fetuses should you shop at the witches market. Thankfully though these fetuses are not untimely ripped from their mothers' wombs, rather they are discovered when llamas are slaughtered for meat. They are a popular gift for good luck in offerance to a god of some sort.
That kind of brings me to my traditional break down of a country (albeit difficult to do in a week).
Bottom 3:
3. Not having enough time here
2. Not being able to buy stuff because I don't have the money/space
1. Rampant poverty
Top 3:
3. The beautiful markets
2. How cheap everything is
1. Rampant beautiful culture, especially the indigenous women.
Anyway, I'm off to collect Snuffy from the pub and head to bed; we have an early start to catch an 8am bus to Peru tomorrow.
Hasta luego!
Around Bolivia photos
