La Paz

The trip from Copacabana to Laz Paz skirts the lake for much of the trip. About an hour outside Copa, we reached a straight and got off the bus. The bus was loaded onto a barge and we all got on a couple small boats to cross the very wavy straight. For a minute there we entertained thoughts of the bus sinking during the crossing, but it made it safely across.

The City of our Lady of Peace is our third South American capital, and we think it might be the wow-iest. This place is a bit on this side of insane, with houses built on nearly sheer mountainsides. The streets are half-occupied by vendor stalls and the sidewalks are incredibly narrow, which makes walking around quite the adventure. We were dropped off in front of a hotel (and given a speech about how nice it is), which put us somewhere close to Cruz de los Andes (our hotel) but in an indeterminate direction. We asked for some guidance at a shop and received a personal escort from the young woman who worked there and was heading our direction. Nice!

La Paz is quite the cosmopolitan city, complete with delivery pizza! We also found bangers and mash and the best Indian food we've had since leaving California. During our brief visit, we went to Calle Jaen and went to several small museums. The huge collection of gold artifacts was quite impressive. We also liked the old buildings lining the old colonial street.

We also visited the Witch's Market. This section of street stalls and shops is full of talismans, amulets, and mummified baby llamas. Lots and lots of llamas, in various states of skeletalness. We're not really sure what they're for, and we decided not to ask.

Sucre is next, although we were unfortunately only able to get an overnight bus to get there. We'll have to make up the scenery viewing once we get there.