After the peace and quiet of Lake Titicaca, La Paz came as a bit of a shock. We drove across the plains for miles upon miles. We had met an Australian couple back in Bogota who described parts of Bolivia as looking like the Australian outback. We finally understood what they were talking about when we saw this landscape, dry grass and gum trees right up to the horizon. After driving through El Alto, a strange barren town of muddy streets and forlorn looking women, we suddenly crested the top of the valley where La Paz lies. Not a beautiful city, set in a gaping canyon, it sort of rears out of the surrounding cliffs. Loud and polluted, endless horns and belching minivans. But we found solace in our little hostel, Arthy's Guesthouse.
We explored the Witches Markets, mainly a lot of dried llama fetus's in varying states of growth, to be buried under new homes for good luck.
We witnessed an amazingly colourful parade, full of the wonderfully dressed Bolivian women in their bowler hats and huge full skirts. Sadly it started to hail and they all looked a bit bedraggled.
But La Paz was not for us and after 2 nights we quickly decided to move on.
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