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Latin America - part VI
La Paz, El Salar de Uyuni, Tupiza
Hector Yague2005-10-12 11:08:59
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La Paz
On the 13 of february 2005 I arrived to La Paz, capital of Bolivia, with a direct bus straight from Cuzco (Peru).
Bolivia immediately struck me as very different capital from other Latin American developing countries, like for example Peru, Bolivia's cousin country. Despite the fact of palpable poverty, and as opposed to Lima, La Paz has an attractive aura to it that makes up for the the numerous under-10 kids begging on the streets. Bustling town, plagued with traffic and drivers on a frenzier status than Godzilla with pre-menstrual syndrome, I think what made me connect with La Paz is its unstoppable energy and perpetual touch of movement. Indeed, avenues are side-dotted by uncountable stalls selling anything from eateries, burnt DVDs, clothes, kitchen utilities, photocopied books, etc. In a way, it reminded me on Mexico city, to a much smaller scale of course. What can I say guys, I am a flea markets crawler; I just love getting lost in them, bargaining for items that already cost peanuts and that I will probably never use haha!
Like I said, there are a number of flea markets like the Witches' Market, where voodoo-alike dolls are offered together with tourist souvenirs and hand-readers pour their mambo-jumbo upon faith-seekers for a cut of their just-forseen fortune, of course. There is also the Black Market, but there's actually little of dubious merchandise whatsoever; it's mostly all legit. And then there's the myriad of guys selling burnt DVDs, software and music. Haha I remember at one point, browsing one of these stalls to buy a CD, a policeman come up to my side and addressed the guy conducting the "business". I was like Shit! we are fucked! , and then the policeman said: "Excuse me sir, do you have a copy of the film Ocean's Twelve?" haha aaahhhh developing countries, you gotta love their looseness.
La Paz
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See photographs from:
Bolivia Gallery
