We flew from the salt flats back to La Paz. The airport was tiny. The people arrived and exited the plane and then our group walked onto the plane. I realized this gave us DOUBLE the germs! I was lucky not to catch a cold on this trip.
Before our rooms were ready in La Paz (the hotel everyone had already stayed in while I was stuck in Orlando), we headed to the Valley of the Moon.
It was named by astronaut Neil Armstrong. From the moon, the only thing he could see on Earth with the naked eye was the Salt Flats and he decided to visit Bolivia. When he got to this place he determined it looked like the Valley of the Moon and named it so.
(Now, the light from the top of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas is also visible to the people on the moon.) — I think a sad commentary on our Earth.
I’ve been to the hoodoos in Bryce National Park and they look very much the same — made of sandstone and being eroded by wind; but the Hoodoos are bigger and more colorful. YES! with all my travels, I AM jaded.
It was the second last day of the trip and I was STILL huffing and puffing up that trail!
What a diverse group!
We had a local tour guide for our city tour with cathedrals, markets and museums.
This interesting poster reminded me this is where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise — Bolivia.
Lots of pigeons and people enjoying the warm weather.
I don’t know why, but Solidad handed out chocolate that looked like a cigarette. For those of you who have known me my whole life, does this give you a blast from the past?? I never went anywhere without my cigarettes and it was never more than 5 minutes when I wasn’t puffing away. I’m so glad I quit 40 years ago!
The new post office/official building was built right behind the old one. I like the old one so much better!!
I’m always a little scared to see guards with weapons, no matter where they are.
They call this the witch market. Their religion is quite superstitious. They sell llama fetuses, I guess, to ward off bad spirits.
The store was filled with interesting stuff!
The basket our guide was showing was filled with trinkets they believe brings good luck or wards off bad spirits.
The over the street decorations reminded me of Cartagena, Columbia.
Surabhi proudly shows off her new jacket she bought that is exactly like Solidad’s, before we got on three different cable cars — the purple line, the yellow line and the silver.
The cable car takes 10 minutes from downtown to the top of the city where it would take 45 minutes of winding back and forth on streets with a car.
Thousands of people use it every day and it costs only cents to ride.
It car doesn’t stop — you have to be good a jumping on and off at the station.
La Paz is built out. There is no more room to build anything, and they’ve built up the mountain as far as they could go.
La Paz and it’s snow covered mountain (They call her Pachamama).
Tom and I never would have gone to a 10-course fancy meal had we not been prompted by the young ones in the group. They are such foodies!!
Look at the detail and the TIME AND ENERGY the people in the kitchen put into these courses! Mind blowing. I didn’t like most of this, but others seemed to. Alex ate the courses we didn’t like, and he ended up eating 22 courses!!
The one with the pink was watermelon, I think, and it was so sour you could hardly eat it. Another course included alligator!
My favorite was the ice cream bar for dessert.
With a glass of wine, my meal was over $80 USD. I NEVER do this. My meals are usually $10.99 or so and I leave a $20 cash tip.
Of course, the experience was priceless.
I sat next to 30-year old Surabhi at dinner and all night I felt I was hanging with a peer.
DUH! It wasn’t until the next day, after the glass of wine wore off, that I realized SHE was thinking she was hanging with her gramma that evening!!!
We had one more day to go and my hands were still buzzing from the altitude meds; and I was looking forward to quitting that stuff.