Adios Bolivia!

Buenos dias!

All good things come to an end and time flies when you are having fun. Cliches but true!

Here the last update from Bolivia. I am writing this from the little plane that brings me from the highest airport in the world (el Alto, la Paz) to Santa Cruz. There I have 2 hours to catch my plane to Madrid and from there I'll fly back to Amsterdam. So, a long journey ahead...

Woke up at 6:15 this morning, so sure I"ll sleep sometime during this trip. This flight to Santa Cruz is about one hour, so I have enough time to write and maybe sleep too.

Yesterday I had a really nice last day in La Paz and it didn't even rain! :-) now its dry too. But the days before it was raining like crazy! Slept long, had breakfast and then went to the etnography museum. Really nice! There was an exhibition about textiles and how people obtained their material (mostly wool in the Altiplano and mostly plant/tree fiber in the Amazon basin),; how they naturally color it (plants, tree bark, cochineal insect, stones) and their weaving technics. Nice! Also an exhibition about the different (woolen) hats people use in various areas and times and their symbolic meaning. An exhibition about masks (basically the same as in Sucre), some prehispanic (a.o Inca and Tiahuanaco) ceramics and ancient coins. Then went to have a quick look at the cathedral and another church where masses were ongoing.

(We are starting to fly now, apparently this airport has a very long starting and landing strip due to the altitude and only special planes can land here and special trained pilots, since it is quiet complex. That's why there are hardly any direct international flights to this airport. These planes are really expensive!).

After the museum I took a mini bus (they have really nice colored ones) to a bit further inside La Paz and to the starting point of the yellow cable car. It was international children's day so there was a big fiesta in the streets with kids in nice costumes. But a huge traffic jam since one road was "blocked".

t the moment La Paz has 3 of these cable car lines: green, yellow and red. Recently (2 years if I remember correctly) opened and designed by an Austrian company. There are construction plans for 3 more lines. This saves people lots of travel time from the center to El Alto or other higher city areas where most people live.

The cable cars are very clean and cost 3 bolivianos (40 cents), my bus trip (1 boliviano). I ate a cookie inside and inmediately I was told not to eat inside the cable car ;-). That's why they are so clean!

I took a combination of the yellow and green line, this "round" takes a little over one hour and basically crosses the whole town. Amazing views! Some roofs even had paintings on them or commercials and we "flew" closely over a soccer field and you could see people doing laundry on their roofs or animals (dogs, cats) lying there. Nice! I seemed to be the only tourist there and was sharing the "cars" with Bolivian families. The last part I was with a family from el Alto, with a son of a little more then 1 and a cute baby son of 4 months, which smiled at me and hold my hand all the way :-) the woman in traditional clothes and the baby in a colored cloth attached to get body, first thought I was from La Paz and when I told her I was traveling she asked if I had family in Bolivia. When I said no and that I was traveling alone I think she felt a bit sorry for me.

After the cable cars, back to the center (less traffic) and time for a quick lunch (run into a German girl here and her father. She lived some days in the same house in Sucre as me) and some shopping.

Then it was time to see the ladies wrestling (cholitas) in El Alto. Since el Alto is not the safest place to go, I booked a tour. 2 of the cholitas (Reyna, and a girl of only 15!) picked us up by bus and we drove to El Alto, about 30 minutes. El Alto has 1 million inhabitants and considered as an autonomous city. La Paz has 1,5 million.

The wrestling takes place only on Sunday's in a stadium. During the week the wrestlers have other jobs. It was interesting to see.

Also men in really funny outfits (clowns, sponge Bob, masks, flies Et cetera) fighting eachother, men against women and the cholitas in their traditional skirts and braids in their hair. The Bolivian public and basically the kids knew all the wrestlers by name and the food & bad ones, and were cheering and shouting.

Each wrestler threw popcorn or candies into the public and the kids were fighting for these. After the show they went for signatures and took pictures with the wrestlers. Nice to see and sometimes heavy fighting. It was from 1630 till 19 and since the stadium was partly open, at the end it got very cold.

Met a nice woman from Portugal (Helena) in the bus, who quit her job and now was going to travel for a while. Afterwards South America with the transsiberia express through Russia, Mongolia and China and also to India. Lucky her!

I am a bit jealous of all these people I met that are traveling for months. But of course also happy with my month.

Our guide in the bus was explaining that La Paz looks like an unfinished city with many unpainted buildings or unfinished buildings. But there is a story to that! If your building is unpainted it is officially unfinished and then you do not have to pay taxes! Wow, can you imagine if it would work like this in the Netherlands?

She was also telling that most El Alto is thriving on the black market. That at the back of houses there are secret factories were they make imitation clothes with materials bought from China. Since Bolivia is the cheapest country in Latin America, they sell this high quality fake clothes to their neighboring countries.

She was also explaining that most cars are imported from Asia (China, Korea and Japan) since these are cheaper then the ones of the USA or Europe. But when the cars arrive to La Paz, they don't work because of the lack of oxygen of the altitude and have to go to the mechanic first to adjust the oxygen level.

And she was telling that babies born in La Paz have to stay in the incubator the first few days till their lungs get adjusted to the lack of oxygen.

Yes, living at altitude has some challenges. I didn't have many problems, only sleeping shorter and lighter and sometimes waking up at night with a difficulty of breathing. And when you walk to fast uphill or with a heavy backpack you feel a bit dizzy or shortage of breath.

Back in la Paz at 1945, had some dinner and then went back to the hotel to pack...

This morning the taxi picked me up at 7:00. Local indigenous women (in their skirts and with their Bolivian heads (bolhoed in Dutch) were already sitting in the streets selling flowers and fresh cheese. Nice to see!

Now I am enjoying my coffee in the airplane.

I will post some more pictures (from my camera) when I am back home. Tuesday morning local time (in the middle of the night for me due to the 6 hours time difference). Really don't want to go back home yet and start working. The travelvibe and being in Latin America suits me much better! :-) but had a great time and I am sure I will have many travels ahead and also to this beautiful continent.

Thanks for reading my (long) stories. Hope you liked them and for the positive reactions some of you gave me. Always nice!

See or talk to you soon!
Abrazo from the Bolivian sky!

Chantal

P.s went out of the plane and a SUV for 6 persons drove me to the airport entrance. Never had that before! In La Paz we could walk to the plane though...