La Paz

After a fantastically isolated night on the Isla del Sol we decide to return to the mainland and make our way to the Bolivian capital La Paz. Whilst booking our bus ticket in Copacabaña we get chatting to an Australian girl who had already been to the capital four of five times previously. She imparted some jolly good advise on places to go and things to do - the sort of places that are not in the guide books!! Her summation of LA Paz was that it is all three tenses of the word corrupt - corrupted, corrupt and corrupting!! Sounds fun.

After a five hour journey through countryside that teased us with glimpses of distant mountains but revealed less than one anticipated - a bit like watching a 1960s porn movie - we arrived at the sprawling outskirts of the capital city. La Paz is vast and at 3600m above sea level is the highest capital in the world. As previously noted Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, this is most notably evidenced by the infrastructure of the country. In places there are no roads, just dirt tracks, I kind of expected that in the countryside but on the approach to the city, to see the roads that branched off the main one being churned up mud paths brought home to me the seriousness of the poverty here: with few financial resources roads are a bit of a luxury and certainly play second fiddle to sanitation, electricity and clean water.

The outskirts are poor and ugly and one feels that maybe this is going to be a mistake coming here, then as the main road rounds a corner we are rewarded with a fantastic panoramic view of La Paz's rambling, lounging urban sprawl. The buildings stretch far into the distance and cling ominously to the huge surrounding mountain sides: it truly is an awesome approach to a city.

The bus chugs into the centre and the traffic is absolutely chaotic. We talk about grid lock at home but here the word could have been invented, it is absolutely choca, with each vehicle greedily invading every spare inch that appears. In the centre of every junction traffic police are blowing whistles and gesticulating furiously trying to keep some order; from what I can tell no one is taking a blind bit of notice and we creep on inch by inch amid the screams of police warbles and a crescendo of tooting horns - why drivers are beeping when there is no where the vehicles in front can go, is beyond me, but it all adds to the atmosphere.

After arriving at our hotel we go out to explore and seek out some of the tips we have received from the Australian girl. There is one bar, Route 36, that is supposed to be party town, but no-one seems to know where it is, or how to get there. After a couple of hours search, a taxi driver drops us off out front of what looks like someones house, no sign or nothing. We ring the bell and I half expect some old lady in her nightie and curlers to open the door and tell us to "piss off!". However the door creaks open and we are welcomed by a giant of a bouncer who shows us down a flight of stairs. The bar is like a private members club, with strict access from the street. This is the first time for 5 weeks that we have really been able to let our hair down and get totally mashed. Eight hours later we stumble out of the bar, a little worse for wear and grateful for some good old Bolivian hospitality.

With tumping headaches, unpredictable bowels and guts that are doing somersaults the next morning/afternoon we venture out to explore the city. Just round the corner we have a witches market where all kinds of potions and herbs are being sold which are supposed to bring good luck, good health and/or add a couple of inches to your penis!! (Needless to say, I bought a party pack size of the ultimate one..... err to give to friends of course!!). Most bizarrely there are hundreds of dead Llama foetuses for sale which apparently locals bury under the porches of newly built homes to bring good fortune.... not so fortunate for the Llama though.

Unfortunately we have decided to only stay in La Paz for two nights and as we got totally smashed the first night we neglected to see some of the other attractions. One of these which would have been fantastically different is an unofficial trip to the local prison San Pedro. Apparently you can go on a tour where the prison guards are bribed to let you in and you can spend the afternoon chatting with the prisoners. The prison is run on corruption where if you have money you can rent out a more luxurious cell which is more like a hotel, most of the gringos that have been incarcerated on drugs charges are living there where it is said that if they weren't they just wouldn't survive in the main prison. I wished we had seen that, it would have been an unforgettable experience.

However we are in a rush to get out of big city and go see some of the beautiful Bolivian countryside and landscapes. We arrange to take a train journey down to Tupiza, in the south, where we are going on a four day jeep trip to see volcanoes, lakes, geysers, mountains, flamingos and lots of Llamas.