La Paz

Last Saturday, I got on a bus with about 50 other young travels and crossed the border from Peru into Bolivia. I had a brief stop over in Copacabana where I met two young women from England. We happened to be going to the same hostal in La Paz and shared a taxi from the bus stop to the hostal. I am staying at Loki Hostal. It´s actually one of a chain of hostals. The other two are located in Peru. For the price of 4 dollars a night, they provide new comfy beds, free internet and wi-fi, breakfast (toast) and a bar. Loki hostal has a reputation for being a non stop party and this has been my experience. The bar blares music and serves up alcohol until about 1 am. Then everyone in the bar goes out to the clubs. Some of the young people go out to snort coke in the later evening and then sleep all day. According to some friends I´ve made at the hostal, there is a place called Vivians that serves cocaine in a room full of mirrors. Although Vivians isn´t my scene, I have enjoyed meeting so many new people from all over the world. Everyone has been so nice. I have met very few Americans so far. There are a lot of people here from, Isreal, Europe and England traveling through South America. Could you imagine traveling on the Pound in South America? One woman loves to tease me about the Pound being double the dollar...

Outside the confines of the wild Loki Hostal, is the lovely city of La Paz. Even though it is quite a large city, many woman continue to wear traditional dress and speak Qechua. For the last few days I have wandered up and down the city. La Paz is in a deep valley and above it, on the hillsides, exists the barrios called El Alto. I am staying in the city center and have seen several museums, and churches. I will spare you the pictures of the churches. They are all starting to look the same to me. I´ve had some delicous and inexpensive meals and had my laundry done. It set me back 2 whole dollars to have someone do my laundry. Yesterday, I had a delicious steak sandwich, fries and a soda for 1.25. I can get used to these prices.



On Sunday I stumbled upon a live concert in the park and learned that there is a Bolivian movie festival this week. I may head over to see one of the movies this evening. I have also been trying to organize some treks and it seems that I will be leaving tomorrow for a trek in the Yungas (Cloud Forest). The trek is called the Yunga Cruz Trek and will last 5 days. The trek is the most difficult one in the Yungas so I am prepared to get my butt kicked. The trek ends in a little town called Chulumani where there is a small ecology reserve. I will stay at the reserve for a few days and then take a bus back to La Paz. Because I will be in such a small town, it is highly unlikely that I will be able to access the internet. You should hear from me again in about a week and a half.

I hope you are all well. I had a dream that I flew home to "just spend 3 days" with Daniel. I guess I am a little home sick too.

-stacie