La Paz, Bolivia

Alright everyone, we´re starting to really rev things up here. Two days, two blog posts, which is an increase in production beyond calculation! Boom! In a pocket we find a wee bit torn 20 US dollar bill that would not be exchanged in Peru, and then find a woman upon our return from Isla Del Sol who is willing to make the trade.  Through this transaction we find ourselves with the means necessary to buy a ticket for transport from Copacabana to the capital city of Bolivia, La Paz.  Unfortunately we don´t quite get the clearest explanation on just which bus to take, but we have our ticket and after an hour of frantically running around in search of buses to La Paz, we find (appartently, though still not sure it was) our correct bus.  The ride was not comfortable, but this is south america we´re in and by now we´ve becomed acustomed to this, still bitched a little though.  So after a relatively short bus ride, we arrive in La Paz, and the bus begins its gradual decent down in to the bowl that is the city.  We get to and out of the terminal fairly quickly, hop in a taxi real quick like, and get dropped off in a area that ,we are told by our guide book, has plenty of options for a cheap nights rest. We get out and realize that it fairly late and we begin to worry if we´ll be able to find a place.  We immediately start a search of the area, and though there are many hotels, and hostels, many have closed or are a bit beyond what we´re willing to pay.  We are cheap asses after all.  We findly find an open hostel that has shared dormotories at a price we feel good about, the kid at reception (after putting away his box cutter he was strangley toying with upon our arrival) takes us up for a look at where we could be staying.  We walk in see that there are four beds, all with various backpacks and random shit thrown about them and at the very far end a really sad half caved in bed to the far end of the room.  Then we turn around, and randomly there are four machetes lying on the floor, and at that moment we get a sense that perhaps this was not the best place to find a quiet nights sleep, maybe one that lasts for eternity, but not one we would arise from refreshed in the morning.  So we hightail it out of there, and by now time is really against us, so we head into the first open hotel we can find and pay the most we´ve yet to pay for a night, but we get to our room and it´s a private room, no one to share with, or to butcher us with machetes in the night.  Plus we have a hot shower and television! Cable no less, it seems quite a luxury, and after a few weeks without much laying eyes upon a TV, we find ourselves instantly captivated by its aura, and eventually that same aura, as it always does, puts us to sleep.  We wake in the morning and begin to explore the city. La Paz is full of tourists, and the city is based upon indulging those tourists more or less, and we begin to edulge ourselves in shopping.  With tons of stores of artesineas we instantly find ourselves wasting time and money in our four days in La Paz. Wasting is perhaps the wrong term, but it is a fact we spent much time in money in the various shops in La Paz. (all good gifts I assure you folks back home!)  So we checked out of our hotel, and found a cheaper hostel with a private room for us, where we spent our next three days in the city.  Like I said there isn´t too much to go into detail about La Paz, as we mainly spent our time window shopping, but there is so much to look at!  We found a real cheap (cheapest in the country, to date 15/2) pizza place, right next door to our hostel, were you could get a liter of cola and a pizza for two for 20 bolivianos! Which equates to just under $3USD.  And how could I forget! Our third night in the city we went to a ´peña´which was a restaraunt that entertained you with traditional music and dancing of the area, along with a meal.  It was really quite entertaining, but the lump sum you paid didnt cover drinks, and like previously mentioned we´re trying to keep things on the cheap side, so after being there for four hours, and only having a drink a piece, the main show ended and we decided to depart due to lack of energy. But the show continued on, apparently.  As we were leaving the announcer shouted for no one to go any where, for only the first performance had ended (this being 2AM) and they we´re keeping this party going till six in the morning! Wow! Talk about a late night, but a Peruvian I once worked with, did tell me once that the real fun doesn´t begin until after 3AM, but we were (and did) going to have to find that out another night.  The peña was a great experience, I´m not sure how true it held to the traditions of the bolivian people of the area, but nonetheless a great time was had.  So after another day in the city we ventured back to the bus terminal and booked tickets for another overnight bus ride that would take us to our intended destination from the get-go of our journey, Bolivias óther´capital city, Sucre! More to come......