Milling around La Paz



Well... since my return from the jungle... hae just been chilling and partying very hard in La Paz!

I think i have overstayed by many a day... but everyday.. we went out.. met people, made friend, and were told mañana, fiesta granda! so we thought.. hmmm might as well stay another day, and another... and attend all the parties. One of our favourite clubs.. Traffic... we went to one of the 'big parties' everyone was about 15!! it was a private leaving party for some guy, and we managed to blag our way in. Had a fantastic night of dancing, which was much needed.. the DJ was unbelieveble!! He was so good, me and Jim were impressed with his techno and house skill.. just needed some pendulum. Anyway.. he invited us the next day for the aniversary of the club. We turn up, apparently we need invites, which steve had failed to mention... luckily our cab had given us 2, but we were with a 3rd person.. Jim went in and got another invite off steve... but then the bouncers wouldnt let us in coz the club was full! We finally got in... and it was amazing, music pumping, camera crews, the works.. we partyed till the end.. 4am.. it was fantastic.. and of course we had to return on friday.. because its FRIDAY... so the house is always pumping.. and I have to admit that was my best night.. the last night there. By that time, I had also made friends with the 60yr old owner, so we no longer had to pay the entrance..!! SCORE

Each of my evenings in La Paz were always followed up by a trip to Vivien's. This is the dodgy underground drug den i previously mentioned. It is absoulutly crazy there.. but loved it. You enter through a garage door.. then you come to a barred door, where you now.. the guy has to unlock all the padlocks, then you walk through the kitchen, behind the bar, and then into the club. The club is all mirrored walls and red lights and there is a cat lying on the bar, which i thought was dead, but i was informed that actually it is high on coke!

Worryingly though, the guys who owned it, ran it, delt there... all seemed to know me pretty well. When there was a queue.. as soon as i knocked on the door... ' Mi Amor... Ven! Ven! ¿Como Estas? ' and thats how i jumped the queue. (my love.. Come! come! how are you?) Me and Jim managed to get pretty famous in there.. when we realised this we both thought it was about time to leave. We had also been quite lucky not to have been caught by the police yet. There were police raids there fairly often.. because the club is illegal.. and full of drugs. Then on my last night at about 5am i was talking to some brazilian guy, and standing outside drinking a bottle of water. Some guy came upto us and started trying top get us into the taxi.. i sed no thanks, we arent going home. He left us alone briefly, then walked up to me and said - i am the police you are under arrest. - OMG my heart stopped. I was thinking ... shit i am going to Bolivian Prison! I am SCREWED. Quickly managed to come top my senses.. and started having a go at this guy asking him why we were under arrest.. we were just standing on the street talking and drinking a bottle of water.. he had no grounds for arrest. He then looked a bit bemused.. appologised and walked away! WHAT THE HELL!! i had been so scared at that point.

In general... i think La Paz was getting a bit dangerous. I had also heard a story of a group of 4 Israli boys.. had been taken in a cab, down an alley, then robbed and one of them stabbed in the leg several times.... since then, more and more israilis were being taken.

These are amazing people, so friendly and seen so muc shit in their lives.. i dont know why they are being targeted. I have met so many Israili's and they are genuinely nice people, and others have told me they are hostile, but i havent seen that at all. One israli i met in particular had quite an effect on me. We were talking in Vivians, and i asked him his age.. despite already knowing he is 22/23 just out the army and traveling. Then he asked me mine. When I said 19... he laughed almost with a tear in his eye, turned away from me and said, 'if only you knew what i had been doing when i was your age'. Naturally, this sparked interest, so I probed him in the hope he might say... and he did ' I was a sniper in the Israli Army'. This just stunned me completely. This also really made me realise how screwed up the world is. I have never seen a gun in real life.. let alone held one, shot one, or killed with one. Yet this BOY had the blood of men on his hands from such a young age. And all in honour of his country. It is something he needs to do to protect his country! And he is happy to be waiting in the reserves to go back and fight, should he be needed, as is with all the Israli boys I have met. I think they are a brave nation, and i really wish they didnt have to be exposed to all that.

As well as all the Parties I was actually stuck in La Paz. There were Bus strikes going on, and blockades on the road, which meant that there was no possibility of passage by bus. Some people did try and made it to their destinations after hitchhiking part of the way.. and the 4 hour journey taking 20. but at least they made it.

Funny that the capital of Bolivia is La Paz.. (peace) jet it always seems to be in turnmoil. On my last day waling through the streets, there was a huge protest, hundreds of paceñias (people of La Paz) walking through the streets protesting. From what i hear it is apparently a national sport in Bolivia.

Also, as a result of my prolonged stay, I did decide to do something useful. Me and Jim decided to be tourists and take an open topped bus city tour. Unfortunatly it was pretty bad.. and my lack of sleep meant i missed most of it... It was pretty bad though. It was all on an automated machine.. with the gude clicking for the next clip of chat as we reached each site. Meaning that when there was no traffic, half way through an explanation of a church it would skip to ' on your right is the new university...'.

The first part of our tour ended in the Lunar Landscape(moon). It was quite cool. but a bit small, so i was quite disappointed. We also only had 15mins. I have to admit we were about 5 mins late, but when we went out of the national park everyone was gone. the bus had LEFT US!! We couldnt believe it!! WE were so so angry. WE jumped in a cab.. drove to the bus terminal... there was the bus.. about to go on the second part o the journey. We jumped on and tried to get our money back, but they said NO, but hurry we are going to the other side of the city now. We arrived in the north at a viewpoint. Got out took pictures, this time we were back at the bus early. We sat down, and Jim asked me to pass him the juice we had bought earlier. (we had been to the supermarket to buy, ham, bread, cheese, juice and fruit, because we hadnt had lunch.) I turned to the seat next to me where i had left it and it was gone. I asked the tour guide about it.. and she turned around with a mouthfull of cheese and ham sandwhich... Oh! sorry... we ate it all.. we thought it was rubbish!
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! We were fuming! This city tour had been nothing but hell.
Anyway... finally decided to leave La Paz on Sat.. had had enough of munching on llama steak, and partying, but sods law... i drank some tap water in the hostal, because i was dying of thirst.. just one sip... the next day.. had the works... bad water... Ended up in bed all day.. but it did snow. When i finally left on sunday, snowed quite a few centimeters.. so bizarre.... especially as its like 25 in the day.. then at night it will snow.. and back home its summer.