Wednesday, November 26, 2008

La Paz - Bolivia


Last night, I watched the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, a big segment of which was filmed in La Paz, Bolivia. I was pleased with this as it bought back memories of my visits to that exceptional city between 2000 – 2002. What stuck me was how the non-Bolivian actors were strutting about energetically, no trace of panting or breathlessness. They must have acclimatised well (they were acting anyway!).

I remember whenever arriving La Paz's El Alto airport, minutes after exiting the aircraft I would feel a dozen needles in my head, followed by some degree of breathlessness if I walk fast or carry heavy things. La Paz airport is 4082 metres above sea level, and that was the reaction your would get.

I would then go down to the main part of the city, some 500 metres below The rest of the city and residential go all way down the rather steep mountainous settlement to about 3200 metres above sea level. I would normally have to lie down or sleep for some 8/10 hours before I could get acclimatised to the altitude before going about doing my stuff. And I had to drink a lot of coca tea for stabilization.

I remember La Paz to be an old, bustling and noisy city of a million people, not very attractive nor clean but with a very distinct character of its own. The natives are very much a feature of the population unlike some other Latin American cities like Bogota, Santiago and Buenos Aires where they hardly exist anymore. Being so high, the sun seemed so close and was always so blinding. The very dry air ensured that most things you touch resulted in statics – little electric shocks!

La Paz had a multiple micro-climates according to each zone's altitudes. From subsequent visits I learnt that the lower down I go, the better the air was and the less I was prone to breathlessness and pins in my hand. And the better facilities – hotels, shops, restaurants were also in the lower part especially the Aranquez area. It was a very divided city indeed, the rich lived in the lower parts while the rest inhabited the grotty and crowded upper parts. I read somewhere that La Paz is now a vibrant and expanding city. The country finally have a native for a president.

I love going to the night markets as there were many interesting ethic things to see and buy, not to mention some luxury smuggled goods! At night La Paz took on an extraordinary magic with almost fairy tale–like lights shimmering all over the valley of the Chuquiago Marka where the city is located. They look like a million diamonds in the sky!

During on one of my visits to La Paz, I booked a cruise on the Lake Titicaca , the highest navigable body of water in the world (I ate the best trout ever from that lake, the flesh was pink like salmon). The evening before the tour, I was told by the operator that the lake would not be accessible for the tour as the farmers had blocked miles of the road leading to it by putting rocks and boulders in protest against the Government lack of assistance to them...

Ok, I’ll not go into that!

Anyway, I did finally manage to do my cruise of Lake Titicaca from Puno in Peru, which was on the other side of Bolivia (Bolivia and Peru share the Lake and the border is somewhere on the lake). I even took a drive into Bolivia from Puno, to a colourful border town called Copacabana (surely not Barry Manilow's inspiration for his song!). But my loyal travelling companion, good old Sze Tho, did not have a visa to enter Bolivia from Peru. We negotiated with the Immigration Officer to let us in for a few hours only and his condition was that Sze Tho had to leave his passport behind and collect it upon return. Against all adds, having driven all that far, we agreed.

All the two hours in Copacabana we were constantly thinking if we were going to get the passport back, or whether Sze Tho will and up in some grotty Bolivian prison!

He got his passport back!

The other place I frequented in Bolivia was Santa Cruz and that had a totally different ambiance and landscape (and many aspirants Miss World/Miss Universe or Miss whatever!). I’ll write about it another time. Hasta luego .....

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