We arrived in Santa Cruz sad to be leaving the World Cup behind but glad to be able to relax in a very nice hotel. Still undecided about our plans for Bolivia we only booked one night.

On the first day we went for a walk to find somewhere to watch France v Germany and found an Irish pub. Ironically two Australians watched France v Germany in an Irish Pub in Bolivia.

Santa Cruz wasn’t amazing, but it was still warm and our accommodation was perfect! Matt got to debut his new Brazilian swimwear and we had three beds to choose from in our luxury room.

After two days of relaxation we flew to La Paz on a teeny weeny plane. I wasn’t scared at all. I was. I was VERY scared.

La Paz’s airport is the highest altitude airport in the world at about 4000m above sea level, so in the one hour flight between Santa Cruz and Bolivia you go up, but don’t really come down!

We looked out the window and all of a sudden there are snow covered peaks either side of you and then a runway beneath you!!! It was pretty crazy!

La Paz
The drive down from the airport to the bottom of the canyon where the main part of La Paz is and it was an interesting and amazing drive. You really have to see it to believe it! There are red bricked houses built all the way up the canyon sides making it like a bowl with the city at the bottom.

We were staying in Bohemian Sopocachi and one thing we learnt quickly was Bolivians were both the best and worst drivers in the world. They overtook around corners where the otherwise of the road was a cliff edge with no guard rail, but they didn’t seem to crash and we’re able to avoid each other in some pre-choreographed bizarre car dance.

We got to our apartment in La Paz and decided we needed to take it easy due to the altitude. So far we were ok but just taking a few steps really got our hearts racing! It was such a weird feeling.

We met a lovely English couple Leanna and Christian and we watched the Holland v Costa Rica with them and our apartment host Derek, in the communal area and then went for a meal together.

At dinner we got all sorts of interesting facts from Derek including that under each building in La Paz is a dead body as a sacrifice!!! No joke. Apparently there’s a saying ‘Don’t pass out in La Paz’ because the sacrifices tend to be drunk homeless people. Grimm.

That night when we got back to the apartment and looked out the window of our 12th storey bedroom we were greeted with an amazing light show!!

 

The next day we did a walking tour of La Paz, it started in an English pub where we caught a quick bus to the Black Market. Here you can buy anything and everything. From a power socket, to a car engine, to the phone / camera that was stolen off you earlier that day. We were told to keep a watch out for pick pockets as it was after all a market set up and run by thieves!

While at the markets we tried fresh donkey milk. Literally straight from the donkey. I had a sip but Matt downed the whole thing. It tasted like warm sweet milk. But the creep factor was too much for me!

It was starting to get cold and I’d left my jacket at the apartment so I bought this sexy number for a tenner:

 

Matt also bought a jacket and I think it was my dads from the early 90’s.

Following the market we went to the Cholita Wrestling. This has been set up by the Cholitas to raise awareness about Domestic Violence. Basically two fully dressed Cholitas wrestle each other and then usually they turn on the Ref, WWE style. It was entertaining and a little bizarre!

 

From the wrestling we went to see a Sharman. We were ushered through his house to his ‘back yard’ which was a strip of grass about 4ft of wide and then a sheer drop at the top of the canyon, but the view was spectacular. While we took it in turns to have our coca leaves read we were shown how to chew coca leaves and drank some hot alcoholic spiked tea.

That Sharman only spoke Spanish, so our questions were asked for us. It was a group reading so it was a bit weird.

After this we were whisked home via the windy and zig-zagging roads of La Paz.

The next day we did death road, but you already know all about that! If not, see my previous post to see if I survived.

The day after death road we watched Germany smash Brazil in the pub with our English mates, it was an absolute cracker with so many goals!! We also saw San Pedro Prison! It was crazy because all the prisoners were at the gate shouting and yelling! We got in trouble for trying to take a photo so we had to take sneaky ones!!

 

 

 

After that we headed to the world famous Gustu’s for a 7 course degustation dinner with drinks pairing! It was sensational! Highlight was the Llama Tail!

The next day we took a bus to Copacabana, unfortunately not the Brazilian one! But a nice beach town all the same. Copa is on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, here we watched Argentina v Holland in a pub where we were them only ones besides the owner who spoke English. The owner was really lovely and chatted to us but the best was when there was a bad off side call and a local just turned around to Matt and spoke Bolivian but between both their hand gestures and the universal language of Football they both understood each other!! After that we saw a beautiful sunset and the next day climbed a mountain following the stations of the cross. Apparently there’s 14 in Bolivia which Matt informs me is 2 more than usual!

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to Puno by bus, which is the Peruvian side of Titicaca!

Bolivia was pretty amazing, unlike anywhere we’d been so far!!