Sweet no mas.
La Paz. I am in one of the craziest, most chaotic places yet. I left Anne in Sucre on Monday and took an overnight bus to here by myself, a little daunting because I haven{t traveled alone in what seems like forever (two weeks). I was a bit of a stress case when I was at the bus station in Sucre because I didn{t see them bring down my backpack (stashed in a huge potato bag, because here they sometimes put your bag on top of the bus and you never know, unless you{re checking at every stop, whether someone{s stealing your stuff). Once I got on and arrived at the city at 6 am in the morning, I couldn{t find the Swiss couples I had been with on the trip to Uyuni who had taken a different bus. So I took a taxi to my hotel and actually couldn{t find it, and ended up at a different one recommended by the Lonely Planet. Outside were two guys waiting for the hotel to open.
Turns out I was lucky to meet them. They were Israeli, looking for an alternate place to stay at because they said they always end up at the Israeli hotels. So of course, in the end, we did go back to the Israeli hotel, heh. I was the only Asian in the place for sure. But it wasn{t a problem. I{ve never met a group of people so damn friendly. I was in heaven, so to speak, because they took me to some great Jewish restaurants where I had hummus and tried some new foods. My next trip has to be to Tel Aviv, because apparently that{s where the best restaurants are. And why are Israeli backpackers so good looking? You can spot them down the road. Thanks to them, I have learned the special characteristics -- the long hair, the designer shoes -- that make an Israeli and Israeli.
Back to La Paz. You definitely don{t come here for the aesthetics. The only worthy museum I{ve been to so far here is the Museum of Coca, where I learned the actual cost of producing cocaine and its market value is 10 times more. The UN doesn{t allow Peru or Bolivia to produce cocaine legally, but yet the U.S., France, Belgium and a soupy slew of rich Western countries can, for pharmeceutical purposes. It{s really unfair to these poorer countries. The UN put restrictions on them because of the war on the drug trade but it doesn{t stop the illegal production. The coca leaf has tons of nutritional value in its pure form. A study conducted in the 80s showed that people who chewed the coca leaf regularly didn{t have much of a difference in terms of fat, proteins, etc. than the ones who didnt consume the (other) mighty leaf.
Today was hectic as hell for me. Despite being in Bolivia, where it costs $4 for a bed and $4 for a good meal, I am beyond my budget. Chile and Argentina really killed me. To make it worse, LAB, the only international airline in Bolivia, is going under, so I have to take a detour to Paraguay on Tuesday in order to get to the Falls of Iguacu, the 8th wonder of the world. The falls straddle the Argentinean-Brazil border and are larger than the Niagara Falls, though most people don{t know about it. Anyway, to get to it, I was planning to fly back to Buenos Aires and then take a bus to the falls, but going through Paraguay is much faster and a little cheaper, at $317 for the flight. The only catch that I caught while at the travel office is that I need a visa to enter Paraguay, if only for one night. So off I went to the Paraguaian embassy to cough up $45 for an overnight stay. AGH. I was so sad about it. My original itinerary was to land in a border town 20 minutes away from the falls, but from what people have been saying, it{s a dangerous place. So I{m stopping in Ascension instead, which is 5 hours away, and it aint supposed to be the best place either. I{m landing in the early evening with is something you should never do in a Third World country. What can I do? So I was stuck. I am annoyed that I have to get Paraguaian money out for one night, but this all comes along with traveling. I am rolling with the punches.
Tomorrow I{m heading off to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, at which point I will take a ferry to an Inca island called Isla del Sol, Island of the Sun. It{s where the Incas believe the sun was born. There is some light trekking to do and ruins to visit, and I will be enjoying the time away from the city.
I also am trying to get off this sugar kick. When I was with Anne, we had dessert at least two times a day. Really decadent cakes and ice cream and pie. They were the only things I could keep inside of me longer than 3 hours. And I ventured so much as to eat a saltena -- a elaborated empanada filled with a spicier sauce and potatoes and olives, and meat of course -- from a Bolivian restaurant that seemed clean. Wish me luck.
Turns out I was lucky to meet them. They were Israeli, looking for an alternate place to stay at because they said they always end up at the Israeli hotels. So of course, in the end, we did go back to the Israeli hotel, heh. I was the only Asian in the place for sure. But it wasn{t a problem. I{ve never met a group of people so damn friendly. I was in heaven, so to speak, because they took me to some great Jewish restaurants where I had hummus and tried some new foods. My next trip has to be to Tel Aviv, because apparently that{s where the best restaurants are. And why are Israeli backpackers so good looking? You can spot them down the road. Thanks to them, I have learned the special characteristics -- the long hair, the designer shoes -- that make an Israeli and Israeli.
Back to La Paz. You definitely don{t come here for the aesthetics. The only worthy museum I{ve been to so far here is the Museum of Coca, where I learned the actual cost of producing cocaine and its market value is 10 times more. The UN doesn{t allow Peru or Bolivia to produce cocaine legally, but yet the U.S., France, Belgium and a soupy slew of rich Western countries can, for pharmeceutical purposes. It{s really unfair to these poorer countries. The UN put restrictions on them because of the war on the drug trade but it doesn{t stop the illegal production. The coca leaf has tons of nutritional value in its pure form. A study conducted in the 80s showed that people who chewed the coca leaf regularly didn{t have much of a difference in terms of fat, proteins, etc. than the ones who didnt consume the (other) mighty leaf.
Today was hectic as hell for me. Despite being in Bolivia, where it costs $4 for a bed and $4 for a good meal, I am beyond my budget. Chile and Argentina really killed me. To make it worse, LAB, the only international airline in Bolivia, is going under, so I have to take a detour to Paraguay on Tuesday in order to get to the Falls of Iguacu, the 8th wonder of the world. The falls straddle the Argentinean-Brazil border and are larger than the Niagara Falls, though most people don{t know about it. Anyway, to get to it, I was planning to fly back to Buenos Aires and then take a bus to the falls, but going through Paraguay is much faster and a little cheaper, at $317 for the flight. The only catch that I caught while at the travel office is that I need a visa to enter Paraguay, if only for one night. So off I went to the Paraguaian embassy to cough up $45 for an overnight stay. AGH. I was so sad about it. My original itinerary was to land in a border town 20 minutes away from the falls, but from what people have been saying, it{s a dangerous place. So I{m stopping in Ascension instead, which is 5 hours away, and it aint supposed to be the best place either. I{m landing in the early evening with is something you should never do in a Third World country. What can I do? So I was stuck. I am annoyed that I have to get Paraguaian money out for one night, but this all comes along with traveling. I am rolling with the punches.
Tomorrow I{m heading off to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, at which point I will take a ferry to an Inca island called Isla del Sol, Island of the Sun. It{s where the Incas believe the sun was born. There is some light trekking to do and ruins to visit, and I will be enjoying the time away from the city.
I also am trying to get off this sugar kick. When I was with Anne, we had dessert at least two times a day. Really decadent cakes and ice cream and pie. They were the only things I could keep inside of me longer than 3 hours. And I ventured so much as to eat a saltena -- a elaborated empanada filled with a spicier sauce and potatoes and olives, and meat of course -- from a Bolivian restaurant that seemed clean. Wish me luck.
posted by Chocolat at 4:22 PM
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