Our last day in La Paz, and we had a bunch of senior citizens of Bolivia protesting down the main street of La Paz. Basically the government has declared that all employers pay their employees and extra salary in December. Its a great way to win votes from the workers. However the government aren’t paying retirees and extra payment. There were some bangs, that sounded like guns or firecrackers. We went up a green building renowned for its views and the ability to rappel down the side of it. At the top the view of La Paz were great, we went back down and the Pensioners of La Paz were still at it. I continued on down the street to get to the mountain bike shop as they haven’t sent me my photos yet, then i found a coffee shop. The girls retreated from the fracas, because who knows what the angry Pensioners of La Paz are capable of. It was kind of scary, but the locals seemed to be ignoring it so I did also. The lady in the bike shop said it was rarer there wasn’t a protest these days.
I then went back to my favourite La Paz coffee shop, before reuniting the 3 amigos in the hotel lobby. The afternoon was mostly rest because we all are feeling the altitude and seem a bit off at times. We did manage to go to the Mercado Negro (Black market), to get snacks for our overnight bus. I thought 6 Bolivianos (less than a dollar) for a pound of popcorn was a great purchase. We still have a rather large bag of popcorn to make out way through.
The overnight bus was very comfortable. Kind of like a “jason recliner” in the bus that laid flat and a footrest to put your feet on to make a flat bed. All the warnings about Bolivian buses were about how cold they are. We got the bus that had the heater going full bore all night turning the bus into a furnace on wheels. We did however get a 2:30am stop to go to the toilet from hell. I was gagging just standing, quite how Jane and Claire managed I don’t know, and probably don’t want to ask to be honest.
We have arrived at our lovely Sucre hostel and currently enjoying warm showers, although the girls have flood issues in the bathroom and I’m looking out for arks full of animals.
