Notes on La Paz

I had only planned on staying 2 more nights in La Paz after returning to the city from the Amazon. I ended up spending 4. La Paz grew on me. Its a chaotic, interesting, city full of contradictions. It is nestled in a valley with houses and streets climbing up the steep walls. In the distance the snowcaps of the Andes loom. The first sight of the city, when approaching by bus is breathtaking. It appears out of no where, sprawling before you in a cozy kind of way.

I was struck mostly by the contradictions of the city and the markets. There are markets EVERYWHERE. Every street is lined with little shops or stands or people just sitting on the sidewalks with their wares spread before them. The markets seem to be organized by theme. On one street everything is hardware related, then it transitions to lighting fixtures, toilets, on to cleaning supplies. One street is full of fruit, bananas at one end, followed by strawberries, followed by papayas. Another street has just sporting goods, soccer balls, trophies, and jerseys for sale. Then there is the electronics street, full of cameras, cell phones, tvs, etc. Another street has fabric and the sparkly, ruffled skirts that the indigenous women wear. As we walked through the streets we would call out to each other "We are in the fabric avenue now! Oh, we've moved onto the Chola clothing street! Banana street!" In addition to all of this there were evening markets that would pop up and then there was the black market, a massive web of stalls selling everything imaginable. Everything was so cheap that I was tempted to buy more than I needed. I bought two pairs of sunglasses ($3 each) and a watch (also $3). The "expensive" watches were $15, they were genuine the shopkeeper explained to me.

The contradictions were the other thing that got me. On the one hand La Paz is a hip, urban place with tattoo parlors with young people who would fit right in in a major US city. On the other hand it is a city in a third world country with the poverty, dirt, and chaos that comes with that. You see cholas in their bowler hats, sparkly flouncy skirts, petty coats, dress shoes, and colorful bundles on their back walking next to women in professional business suits, carrying briefcases, chattering into their cell phones. Swank Mercedes, clean and new, contend with wheezing buses chugging their way up the hills. There are beauitful buildings, old victorian/edwardian style buildings, in some parts of the city. The presidential palace is gorgeous and the national art museum is in a beautiful on colonial building. But most of the buildings are ugly, square, utilitarian red brick affairs. The traffic is massively insane, chaotic, and seemingly completely unorganized BUT there is a government program promoting pedestrian safety (for some reason this program involves people in zebra suits at crosswalks. Not all crosswalks, and not all the time, but you see the zebras every now and then). Because it is so congested, and nestled in a valley, the air can be thick with exhaust. But the prado (the main street through the center of town) has a beautiful, artfully designed, garden separating the two lanes of traffic. Its a crazy, interesting city and I could've spent even more time there. But, the people I was hanging out with left and so did I. After a night in the beautifully located town of Sorata I have finally made it to Copacabana. Exploring Lake Titicaca and then going back to Peru are the next items on my agenda.