la paz
The journey started with the ascending of plane from the Vancouver airport (after paying the $15 airport tax).
I changed flight in Dallas and Miami. When I was in Texas, someone claimed that Dallas was the biggest metropolitan in the States.
Arrived at La Paz at 7:00am, May 14th 2000. San Francisco Plaza is the tourist center in La Paz. Paying respect to the altitude, I walked as if I got Parkinson disease. Two minutes after I came out from my hotel I met a man who claimed to be a policeman (with a phony police ID). He asked me for passport. I refused. Then he stopped a pedestrian (probably his friend) and asked him for his passport. He wanted to show me that it was a very common practice for police to check people's passport in La Paz. And he insisted that he was a very genuine police, so genuine that he even claimed that he was Inter Pol. I laugh. I told him I was from FBI, and formerly working for KGB. He wanted me to go into a taxi with him (of course, prearranged). I showed him my middle finger. That was the happy ending.
Later I heard it was a very common scam in La Paz. Two girls from Switzerland had followed the man to the taxi and got robbed (nothing left, not even the money belt).
A church is a church, nothing special.
The woman on the street was selling the pig heads (not too visible in this low resolution picture). The pig was very very dead.
A bus station for bus.
A gas station for gas.
La Paz is a valley. The lower part of the city is the rich area. The poor people live higher, with better view. It is difficult to get lost. The main street is at the very bottom of the valley. If in doubt, just walk down.
There are many armed soldiers or police around La Paz. It is very very safe. The Bolivians look down on people who steal. So even though it is the poorest country in the world, it's still relatively safe. The criminals don't commit violence, not in public place in front of the heavily armed police anyway.
There's a small witch market in La Paz. They don't like people taking photographs. I think I got bad karma from taking this photo and that's why this camera was lost in later part of my trip.
The simple, hard working local people. Bolivia have 50% real Inca people (or Aymaras). The highest percentage in South America. I took the bus to Copacabana (a town in Lake Titicaca)
A demonstration in La Paz. It later turn into a small riots. They made lots of noise (with fireworks). I had no clue what they were so unhappy about.
In the Plaza, people play music, while the demonstration was going on at the main street beside. The next day, I went to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon area.
There are many terrorist looking people in the Plaza. They just want to brush your shoes. Sometimes they rip you off if you are a tourist. The standard price is 1B ($US 0.15).
The Valle de la Luna, they call it the moon valley because they think it looks like the surface of the moon but mainly because they want to attract tourist. Scientifically, it is a badly eroded badlands.
It cost me US$0.5 to come here (just take the trufi 231 or 273 near the tourist information office in the lower Prado). It's a pretty disappointing tourist attraction. It's more dangerous to walk in the moon valley than the surface of the real moon because the gravity here will give you a very bad smack on your butt. I did it anyway.
Through the valley of the moon, you can get a very good view of La Paz.
There are better attractions than the moon valley in La Paz. For example, Tiahuanaco (the ruin) and Chacaltaya (the 6 km high mountain) will cost a bit more (60B, US$10), but also give you better satisfaction.