La Paz, Bolivia

The breakfast in the Anata Hostel was refreshing. It was more than just bread and coffee, this time it was a whole meal with cereal, yogurt, eggs, sourdough, juice, and choice of tea or coffee. Hit the spot. Mer went out for coffee on her own again and then I found her a little later. This system works well for me and I hope it works for her too. We went to the Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore and the Museo San Francisco (part of the cathedral). Both were super good and not too expensive as they were twenty and fourth bob each. We were able to go all around the cathedral with a guide and even up to the room/bell tour. The church is all centered around St. Francis because he is the saint they follow there.

For lunch we ventured up the road from the cathedral and got Cuban sandwiches from Sabor Cubano and they were just what we needed! Then on our walk back home, we wandered around the witches street but it wasn’t very witchy unfortunately. We found the purple funicular line along the way so we rode that puppy up and down. La Paz is a large city and is yet another massive SA city that sprawls across the hills and mountains beautifully. They are the cities from tales.

For dinner that night we had Curry House and it was much better than the Indian food we had back in Cusco. To be fair we didn’t even look that one up though and just walked in so it was a known gamble back then. I got palak paneer and it was real paneer this time!

Another section, another meal review it seems. The next day for lunch Mer and I met up for lunch at Bolivian Popular. I had thought it would be the same vibe as the place we got almuerzo from in Arequipa, but it was the opposite. This place was fancy and had a set menu of fresh bread, entrada, secundo, y poste as well as fresh juice. We couldn’t get the sopa de mańi so we both got the Queso de chancho (pork) and I loved it. The style of cooking I couldn’t even begin to dissect for y’all. I need to get to cooking school asap! For the main we had three options and Mer and I each picked a different one. We chose the pork belly and the beef options and they both had a similar feel: meat, croquetta, acid, sauce, and crunch. For dessert we got one of each, melon five ways and té con té flan with sorbet. Wild. I ate the white chocolate filled with some burst of melon in one bite per the instructions and it was good at first, but then I had more sugar in my mouth at once than I have ever in my entire life. The meal was super delicious and fresh. Very local. Including the wine we each had it was fifteen usd. We then walked it off on our stroll back to the hostel where we waited around until we got picked up for the chomites wrestling.

What a hoot of an evening. We got the briefest history on the event from our guide – I think it used to be bad but now it’s good? Or maybe it was always good if you are a good person? Unclear. I anticipated it would be real fighting but it was WWE and so funny. The ladies are performers and I couldn’t stop cracking up. We got a random quick dinner after and then got everything all packed up to prepare for a hike in the morning.

After filling up on hostel bfast, we set off on an adventure with Juan, our guide. We rode in a 4 runner built from stone. The ride was treacherous but the car prevailed. No reading was done though we almost both saw our breakfast a second time that morning. We got to the mountain around 09:30 (complete guess) and finished around 13:15 perhaps? Maybe. They said we’d get back at 17:00 the earliest and 19:00 the latest and we got back at 14:30 so it’s hard to know what time it was ever. So silly. The hike was awesome though. Lots of elevation, I think around 6000 meters to the top but we took it slow and steady. We had an adorable lunch at the top of Huayna Potosi, at the cumbre. A little round thermal bento filled with grilled chicken and spaghetti. Getting down we were zooming the terrain in the hike is very rocky. There are also glaciers to be climbed but we refrained from those paths. I think everyone else that was there had slept there and ice climbed. Maybe we’ll try that next time.

Since we got back so early we were able to leave that night instead of the next night and begin the trip to Santa Cruz, so we were super stoked about that!

And that’s my quick recap of La Paz for ya 🙂