La Paz, Bolivia

Typical produce vendors seen all over the city:










A street full of witchcraft vendors - right next to our hotel...









Random graffiti:






Valley of the Moon:












More views of the city:








La Paz has EXCELLENT restaurants...








Museo de Coca:








An interesting statement on US manufacturing:







Sending mail to the US:










25-28 September 2006 (Mom N´s birthday 26-9-06)

...some photos from our travels in La Paz from the past few days... We wanted to give you an idea of what La Paz looks like from the tourists´eyes. Since we arrived in La Paz, we´ve been sucked into city life - lots of walking and observing. Sometimes we feel like we are in NYC, othertimes, in medieval Europe. It´s an interesting city and our pictures and commentary just can´t do it justice. But, here I go with some explanation for our photos...

All over the city are street venders. They seem to be grouped together - textiles on one block, vegetables on another block, barbers on another block, etc. I chose to add a few photos from a street of venders located near our hotel; we were informed that these vendors were selling supplies to witches. In one image you can see the alpaca fetuses that apparently are meant to be placed in the foundations of new homes. We have found no explanation for the animal hides yet.

Andrew and I keep our eyes out for interesting graffiti... we saw plenty of English lyrics from old music. The Doors apparently are alive and well in La Paz.

As we mentioned in a previous blog, the city is located in a valley. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Paz,_Bolivia In addition, there is a lot of erosion in parts of the city which seems to be either ignored or dealt with in time by architects. There was a time when many houses were abandoned due to erosion. Apparently geology was ignored for a while in architectural history of this city. Regardless, there is an area of the city that looks similar to Bryce Canyon, without the colorful rocks: Valley of the Moon (Valle De La Luna). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon This is located just on the edge of the city - quite a spectacular site.

We have eaten at some incredible restuarants, as you all know, we love good food and have missed the variety we had in Providence for the last month. BUT, here in LaPaz, we´ve had incredible Japanese (at a Wagamamas - Daniela we thought of you!), French, and German cuisine, all for under $30! Ahhh, gotto love cities...

I don´t think we´ve talked about this yet. But all through Peru and Bolivia, the native people chew coca leaves - it seems to be the cure for altitude sickness, hunger, and more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_leaves So we visited the coca museum in La Paz, where they discussed the nutritional value (very interesting - high levels of calcium and iron - the iron probably is the reason coca helps with altitude problems) and the use of coca as an anesthetic (used during trepanations of the high priests).

Finally, we decided to send some things back to the States, we went into the post office, where they demand to pack the box themselves. . . an incredible process of placing your items in a box, wrapping them as if they were a present, then hand-sewing a strong plastic bag around the box. Lovely. As I snapped a photo, the women informed me that it never fails, all the Americans take pictures of this process... I guess I can´t avoid my roots.

We are off to Cochabamba tomorrow... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochabamba to visit Melissa (Andrew´s cousin), and for me to take some Spanish classes... Speak to you all soon...

Leigh (and Andrew)