I must admit, I am a little lightheaded right now. I am not sure if it is a result of the altitude of La Paz (nearly 12,000 feet), or my whirlwind finals week that ended with a full twenty-four hours of travel to Bolivia, but to say I am a bit dizzy would be an understatement. Regardless, I am here. And, of course, I love it.
I must admit, I missed South America. I woke up this morning to the cacophony of hundreds of honking horns and hawkers yelling from doors of buses, and the smell of women cooking meals on the street below my quaint hotel room. When I opened the curtains of my room I was greeted with the South America I remember: dilapidated buildings and pure chaos. Now, I don´t mean that negatively at all. It was actually almost comforting and brought back memories from my time in the region a few years back.
La Paz, at least the little I have seen of it, is beautiful. I arrived last night around midnight. I found a cab and headed into the city. My first view of La Paz came from the top El Alto, which is the ridgeline above the city. As we entered the valley, the cab drive pulled to the side of the road to let me have a look at the city lights as the spread before me along the sides of the valley and as far as I could see below. It was a tremendous way to be introduced to La Paz. In the daylight I was greeted with a city settled in a valley of steep inclines consisting of periously perched buildings. In the distance, at the end of the valley, is Mt. Illamani, which towers over this already altitude-blessed city. It really makes for a spectacular setting.
Unfortunately my time here is shortlived. I will be leaving on an overnight bus this evening to Uyuni. There I will find a guide to take me into the salt flats for three or four days. From there I will return to La Paz prior to heading to Peru for our UNIDO research project.
Alright, this update has been long enough...I am going to go get myself into trouble so I can have some good stories to share next time I post an update. That and some oxygen.
3 comments:
Love, love, love that the travel updates have resumed! And the blog is even better than email. Will you be posting photos soon? Keep em coming, Paulie!
K
Public Service Message
CANABLE OFFENSES
drugs and sexual offences frequently attract very severe caning
illegal bike racers,
snatch thieves,
traffic offenders,
possession of passport w/ 4 or more different stamps in a 4 week period,
men who desert their wives,
perpetrators of get-rich-quick schemes, and
vandals.
My money is on the bike racing and/or get-rich-quick schemes.
Have fun,
pictures. i want lots of pictures. keep the posts coming - it'll give me something to read while i study for the bar! i'm incredibly jealous (again).
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