Around the World in 180 Days: Copacabana to La Paz

     Bolivia is said to be the South American country with the worst wi-fi for a reason. I have a few days to catch up on...
   On Tuesday we slept in a little later than before--I think it was almost 7 when we started moving. In the morning we went up a hill deemed too steep to drive on judging by the barriers on it, to a place that I do not know the name of, other than it was between two hills named the Santa Barbara and the San Cristobal. The stations of the cross formed a trail up the hill, but they were weatherworn and in Spanish so except for a notable few we were unable to understand more than what the pictures depicted. San Cristobal was almost twice the height of Santa Barbara, and was the only hill with structures on top. There were stone stairs leading up to the crest, where vendors sold candles and religious items and a series of crosses depicted some part of Jesus´s life and small altars surrounded the places where there wasn´t a sheer drop. We sat on a concrete step for a few minutes to catch our breathe and look at the lake and the town before starting back to our hotel. Though the way down was easier in the altitude, it was so steep and covered in shale in parts that we needed to be very careful in parts, and our progress was slow.
     Again we had a rather lazy day--our hotel room was too inviting to spend much time away. That evening my parents walked to the cemetery while I practiced and struggled to no avail with the internet, and went for dinner at the hotel right next to us for fondue. Apparently I have had fondue once in Portland, but I have no recollection of this. Whether as a second experience or a first, dinner was a good one.
That night a couple of the malnourished cats around the hotel climbed on our roof to find a way in (they had learned that we will give them bits of cheese). At first we had no idea what the noise was, and it was only when a cat bolted across the window sill that we realized that they were cats, not humans. It may have been that the cats were really klutzy, but the acoustics had made it sound like the wait of the things above us were going to make the roof come down.
     Almost every night that we were in Copacabana clouds rolled in in the evenings and we had a thunderstorm. The very first night that we were there, the lightning and thunder came directly above us and, though we appreciated the rain, the noise was earsplitting and the light blinding. Luckily, it moved on fairly quickly leaving only some torrential rain.
     Wednesday dawned cloudy and cool, and we spent the morning packing up. At 11 we had to leave our room so that it could be cleaned, so we walked back to the cemetery. The resident dog decided to follow us, and she would run ahead and wait for us at the corners to see which way we were going. It didn´t seem as if dogs would be allowed in the cemetery, but the gates were open and we had no real say in what she did.
      Cemeteries here are so different from those at home. The graves seem much more personal, with mounded earth and fresh flowers. I am told that the tradition is to bury people after death, but then to dig them up within the next ten years, cremate them, then place the ashes in cubbies around the graves and decorate them (the cubbies). It seemed common to see a miniature bottle of coke in the shrine.
     The bus to La Paz didn´t leave until 1.30, but by the time we walked to the cemetery, took the dog home (once she founded a large bone she was eager to return with it before another dog tried to take it from her), walked to a cafe, were followed by the dog (who had deposited her bone), had some refreshments, were watched mournfully by the dog while we sat, walked back to the hotel to collect our luggage, deposited the dog with her people so she didn´t follow us again, and walked to the bus station we didn´t have much time to spare.
     One notable thing that all the guidebooks failed to mention about the busride was that we have to cross a river on the way. It wasn´t a big deal, the bus got on a ferry that appeared barely large enough or strong enough to hold it, and the people got on a few small boats, but somebody probably should have mentioned it. On the way across the people sitting next to us asked if we were from Oregon. They had guessed based on the brand logos they saw; Columbia and Carhartt, and on the ukelele (which they were wrong about--there was no ukelele, only a violion and it was in a mandolin case).
     We arrived in La Paz around 5, and it was fairly simple to get a taxi to the apartment where we are staying. Yet again there is awful wireless connection, but we are lucky enough to have a computer.
     The nearest supermarket is less than a block away, so we went there to get some provisions for the night after exploring the area a bit. While walking, we stopped at a street vendor selling illegaly-copied movies, 3 for 10 Bolivianos (about a dollar fifty, and we got them because the apartment also comes with a TV and DVD player--it is amazing how good budget lodgings can be; we were anticipating much worse accomodations) and they have good picture quality and are in English. This means that I can watch the final Bourne movie without waiting for sixth months--though I have low hopes because of the new director and the different main character.
     This morning bread was delivered to our door. A lovely detail, but one that woke me up a lot earlier than would have been appreciated.
     For a few hours a little before midday we explored a lot more of the downtown area. On our way to the first market we stopped in a Franciscan church, and took a skybridge across the street. Getting to the bridge was fun, because you passed through aisles lined with dozens of tiny food-shops, with many of the owners leaning out and waving and smiling at you, saying ´Pasen, pasen amiga´, and you know that they really just want to sell you food but still.
The streets were bustling, and it is not surprising to see kids my age out every day at any time. It was maybe an hour to the ´Witches Market´, which was a little disappointing. They sold mainly clothes and brightly-coloured weavings, but many of the stores did have dead vicunas and llama fetuses hanging outside.
     Circling back from the witches market, we walked to an old and pretty part of town and through a park littered with a few hundred pigeons vying for food. People sell these jello things with whipped-cream on top in cups in the park, and I think that before we leave I´ll have to set aside my scruples and try them.
     The old section of the city wasn´t disappointing, and we found the music museum that the people who identified as North Westerners had recommended. It was purely happenstance that we came across it, as we thought that it was on a different side of town completely. It was even more serendipitous that we saw the people from the boat inside.
     I have way too many pictures from this museum to post, but I´ll choose the best ones. Incidentally, the apostrophe is pointing the wrong way because I can´t figure out how to make it do otherwise on the different keyboard. The museum was not disappointing at all, and we saw a lot of bizarre and beautiful instruments. There were a few early violins, and the shape is completely different from the ones that we see today. We also saw a double-sided violin invented by this man who invented most of the oddest instruments that we saw. Not quite sure how you would play it.
     On a side note, most of the Stradivarius violins now are very different from the originals. They are a lot more modern than they were initially made to be.
     Once out of the musem we stopped for Coca Cola (no Inca Cola in Bolivia) at a small cafe, and continued on our route home. An indoor market that we stopped in was very interesting, particularly once we passed through the hanging meats. We got some ingredients for lunch--tomatoes, basil (the word for which it was relieving to find that we weren´t mispronouncing, one of the women selling items just didn´t know what it was), and avocadoes. Walking up the street on the way back to the apartment, we passed a row of people (mostly men, the jobs here seem to be pretty divided) with bags out on the curb identifying them as plumbers or electricians or other handymen. I think that when you need, say, and electtrician, you go up do somebody with an electrician´s bag in front of them and hire them.
     There was also a ´shortcut´ that we found on the way back, that took us up 59 steep stairs then down almost twice that amount for no apparent reason. We probably took a more circuitous route back to our neighborhood supermarket (cheese, we bought bread from a vendor on the street) than was strictly necessary, but it was so fun to see more of the city. La Paz is definitely my favorite stop so far.
     Now lots of randomly-ordered pictures. Also, below is my entry for Machu Picchu.