"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”– Lao Tzu

Day 71 – La Paz, Bolivia

Well, we expected to be leaving La Paz this morning, but the road blockade in El Alto (the town on the plains above La Paz), was in full force, so we are stuck in the city for another day. I’m torn on what I think of La Paz. It’s definitely an interesting city, the way it’s laid out, and we have come across some really pretty bits. But, it’s so full of bus exhaust, which on top of the altitude and the steepness, makes it pretty bad to breathe in.

But, as we had the unexpected day, we decided to use it and see more of the town. We wandered to Calle Jaen, which is a cute cobbled alley with 5 teeny museums on it. We wanted to see the MuseoLitoral, which is dedicated to the war in 1879, where Chile took the Atacama Desert and the corresponding coast from Bolivia. Oh yeah, Bolivia used to be much bigger, but Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina have all picked away parts. But it’s the Chilean stealing of their coast which has them the most upset.

From the museum, we kept going south, coming across parks, football pitches, and even a Circus Big Top! I was very excited and would have loved to go, but we’d run into Biker Tom’s friends Patrick and Tara, and they’d invited us all for dinner, so we couldn’t.
We did however see yet another protest/march! This time it was all men and women in business suits, again no signs to explain what it was about. But this one came with a marching band, and an entire line of military police keeping watch on them. Very odd…

For dinner, we went to a British Curry house of all places, and it was good!! It was nice to catch up with Tom, and chat with Patrick, Tara and their friend Caroline, on holiday from Idaho! We might see them again in Cusco..

And then it was off to bed for a 4am start! Yes, 4am, as apparently we might catch the protesters napping…

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