La Paz, Santa Cruz, Samaipata, and Copacabana

La Paz

May-June 2023

We based Pedro in La Paz for just over a month, while we dipped in and out in between flights to various places. Pedro was safely tucked away in the corner of a car park in El Alto while we jetted around. We did take him out for one ill-judged outing, driving from 4,150m in El Alto down to 3,200m in Valle de la Luna and back again. The climb, lack of oxygen, and the insanely high and frequent speed bumps made it a very nervy trip, but no long-term damage. The Valle de la Luna means valley of the moon, and it looked just like it was made of moon-cheese.

El Alto, next to La Paz, is the highest city in the world. We arrived on a Sunday and ended up driving through a busy market and several roadblocks to reach our car park. It was very tight and we were surprised we didn't have any crashes along the way! La Paz isn't often described as a beautiful city, and tourists tend to spend a few days there doing the most touristy things and moving on. We got to know it a bit better as we were there for a while, but we would still not describe it as a beautiful city. Staying in El Alto was very spectacular though - we were so high up with views over La Paz, surrounded by sandy-coloured structures that looked like melted candle wax, and with snow-capped 6,000m mountains in the background. However, being this high up meant it was very cold. We had below zero temperatures every night, and as we were staying in a car park, we used our portable shower which thankfully provided us with hot water, but as soon as Em got out of the shower, her hair froze!

We had to bang loudly on the metal gates of the car park every time we wanted to be let back in, as the owner lived in a small house inside. However, as is the case in most of South America, nobody likes sleep. Minivans hoping for business started driving past incessantly beeping their horns from 4.30am, and dogs were barking all night.

Public transport there takes the form of cable cars, with several lines flying above the city. This system was introduced by an Austrian company and is incredibly cheap, so everyone uses it to commute, drastically reducing the number of cars on the roads. There is still a rule that you must wear a mask inside the stations and the cable cars. As they get in, everyone greets each other with a "Buenas tardes" (Good afternoon). Imagine that on the London underground! The other way of getting around is in cramped minivans called 'collectivos'. Again, everyone greets each other and it is very cheap - 1 bol for a journey (11p). Another social norm we have noticed is people saying "Buen aprovecho" (Bon appetite!) as they walk past a restaurant.

We spent a few days in La Paz doing the touristy things - wandering down the 'Witches market', where people sell souvenirs, but also hang llama foetuses from the doorways to ward off bad spirits. We also wandered down a foody road and ate at some nice restaurants, including an Indian restaurant where we were able to find authentic curry for the first time in 8 months! We also went into El Alto to watch the chollitas wrestling. This takes some explaining - imagine BTEC WWE in a rundown leisure centre where women are victorious over men, and are dressed in traditional Bolivian clothes (huge skirts, long plaits, top hats, and clogs). It originated as a way of highlighting and overcoming domestic violence in a lighthearted way. Whilst in El Alto, we witnessed the sprawling markets. We had to make a note of the variety of items for sale as it was too unbelievable - red onions, toothbrushes, live rabbits, phone chargers, trainers, sanders, car wheels, army gear, just the tops of spray bottles...

We also ticked off a few maintenance jobs. We needed to replace our spare tyre and found a street with loads of tyre shops. We eventually found the right tyre and wheel. What was quite surprising, was everyone working in the tyre shops, jacking up vans and fitting tyres, were women! In most South American cities, there are whole streets dedicated to selling very specific things. This was also the case in La Paz. The whole street was just tyre shops, then there was another street advertising brakes, then another full of mechanics. It makes it easy to find what you need! We also needed to fill up with diesel, but Bolivia was experiencing a diesel shortage, and we had seen footage of endless queues outside petrol stations on the news. Reluctantly, we joined the back of a line of 14 trucks and waited nearly an hour to fill up. But, at least they let us fill up (tourists in foreign cars can have trouble at most stations acquiring diesel!). We also got our breaks checked in about 5 minutes, for £3. Win.

Pedro tucked up in his car park in El Alto

Freezing shower time in the car park!

Riding the cable car at night

Views over La Paz from El Alto

Road blocks

The historic centre of La Paz

In the 'foody' area of La Paz

Curry!

Street performers in the Witches' market

The witches' market

Llama foetuses at the witches' market

Chollitas wrestling

Valle de la Luna

Santa Cruz

June 2023

We felt right at home in Santa Cruz. We said it was one of the places in Bolivia we could easily live. It's the most modern, Westernised city and it definitely felt it. We stayed in two different places: near the historical centre, and in Equipetrol, a new fancy neighbourhood full of restaurants, rooftop bars and high-rise flats. We flew here from La Paz and stayed here for a few days before flying to the Pantanal, and for a few days after.

We walked around the main plaza, which was full of tropical plants and palm trees, and was full of old Bolivian men at tables playing chess. There was also a man dressed in a yellow suit serving free coffees to the players and spectators. There was also a cool cultural centre with art exhibitions around the outside and a courtyard in the middle serving coffee and pizza.

We went on a trip to Guembe, a park/zoo with a pool. They had a weird collection of animals - a lone Tapir, some deer, one monkey who wanted his back scratched, and a huge Jurassic Park-style walk-in aviary full of squawking Macaws and Toucans. You could walk up a rickety spiral staircase and through an opening in the top for a view over the enclosure. We also got a taxi to the Botanical Gardens. They weren't very botanical, but they had a big pond which was full of caiman and terrapins. We also spotted Trogons, Orependolas, and Giant Cowbirds.

Santa Cruz is quite arty and we had both found tattoo artists that were really good. The only problem was, Justin had booked in for his the day we arrived back from an overnight flight on which we got zero sleep, and his tattoo was a big one. He had his done over two days, which took 13 hours in total, finishing at 11pm on the second day! It's safe to say your pain threshold is much lower when you're severely sleep deprived, but it was worth the pain in the end.

We also had some strange experiences:

While we were staying in the first Airbnb near the centre, we woke up on our last morning to a bug infestation. Tiny mites had covered the spare bed (where we had unpacked all our stuff) and were in ALL of our clothes and bags. We summoned the Airbnb host who pretended to help us clean them off but was actually making things worse. As we were travelling to Samaipata, the host lent Justin a suitcase as his backpack was in a bad way and required some deep cleaning (which she paid for while we were away).
We were in a Chinese restaurant in Equipetrol, which had TV screens showing the news. The news was about a Banco Fassil HQ opposite the restaurant we were in, and was reporting that the new bank Director had been thrown from his 14th-storey office days before, with suspected mafia involvement! We could see the facade of the bank out of the window had been taped off by police and a poor cleaning lady was moping the floor! With some more Googling, we discovered his body had been found without an eyeball and a testicle.

The Cultural Centre

Art inside the Cultural Centre

The main square

A rooftop bar in Equipetrol

Em channeling her inner Gok Wan

Street vendors selling jewellery

Our breakfast of choice on most of our days - Acai with Greek yoghurt, brownies and fruit

Macaws at Guembe

On top of the bird enclosure at Guembe

The pool at Guembe

A Tapir at Guembe

Exploring the Botanical Gardens

A Spider Monkey at the Botanical Gardens

Blue-crowned Trogon at the Botanical Gardens

Caiman at the Botanical Gardens

A Tortoise at the Botanical Gardens

White-bellied Hummingbird

Samaipata

June 2023

A 4 hour minibus ride away from Santa Cruz, was Samaipata, a small town in the mountains, with some nice restaurants, cute artisanal handicraft shops, and close to Amborro National Park. We had gone to do some big hikes. We stayed in a quaint little hostel with some tiny kittens we became obsessed with. We went on two hikes in Amborro National Park - both with guides, as you're not allowed in the park without a guide. The guides were reasonably priced and included transport to and from the park.

The first hike was through the jungle to see some prehistoric ferns (some hundreds of years old), with amazing views at the top. The next day we went on another really cool hike to Codo de los Andes. It was a very steep incline, then a nice walked along the ridge to a viewpoint at the highest point. On the way back, we went to some waterfalls for a cooling swim.

Hostal Andorina

After 8 months side by side, we couldn't stand one night apart so shared a single bunk bed for 3 nights!

One of the hostel kittens

Our friends at breakfast

Amborro National Park

Prehistoric ferns

The view at the top

Coco de los Andes

Cooling off in the waterfalls

Em's friend at the waterfalls

Copacabana

June 2023

After braving Pedro on a small pontoon across a narrow section of lake, we arrived in Copacabana, on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. It is also huge, and your eyes can trick you into thinking it's the sea, as, at points, it disappears into the horizon. Copacabana is a small town on the lake, with several hostels and restaurants and not much else. We were lucky to find a wild camp spot right on the lake, where we could shower with the lake water, and have some peaceful nights' sleep.

We hiked up to a viewpoint overlooking the bay, but as with a lot of things in South America, it had been spoiled by an awful lot of trash, despite an overkill of rubbish bins up there. Nevertheless, it was a good view and got our legs working.

We got a very slow boat over to Isla del Sol. You could see the island the whole way from Copacabana, but it took 2 hours and persevering on the top deck, was freezing! We arrived at the north of the island, and spent the day hiking to the south. A few years ago, there was a dispute between the north and south of the island, so it was impossible to walk between the two, but they seem to have reconciled. The scenery was amazing, and the only settlements were little villages with farmland, and EVERYONE seemed to have their own donkey. There were also little kiosks dotted along the path, with locals selling sandwiches and drinks. We arrived at the south in time to catch a boat back to the mainland, which, again took several hours.

Back in Copacabana, we met up with Anabeth, a friend we'd made on the Amazon tour, for a drink. However, shortly after, it all went downhill for Em. She was struck down another bout of food poisoning (God knows where from this time!) and spent the night in the van violently vomiting. Not fun. This, mixed with a lingering UTI, period cramps, and a cold, made the next few days pretty miserable, but luckily she had a very lovely Justin to look after her, and is now fully recovered.