La Paz

Loki is a crazy hostel. Maybe because we stayed in a 14 bed dorm, but it was loud, (not so much in the dorm,) and we had an eventful night. At 11am the following morning we started the 'Red C&P' walking tour of La Paz. It was a really entertaining tour done by a girl and an eccentric guy. We started by San Pedro prison in the centre of the city and then made our way to the markets, the witches market and San Francisco square and cathedral. It was interesting to discover La Paz's history and how it was built as a midpoint between Sucre/Uyuni and Cusco. It is also built in a big basin, with the poor living higher on the hill and the rich at the bottom, unlike any other city. The guides also talked of the women and their dress. They wear big patterned dresses with many layers, which make me feel hot just looking at them, but they put their calf on show as this is the most desirable trait to a man. If a woman is strong and has big hips, she therefore has strong calf muscles. At the end of the tour we finished at the top of a a five star hotel, with great views of the city.

After the tour finished, we weren't that hungry so decided to get going and do some shopping. We went to the area near the witches market. Oh, I forgot to say, that the witches market is so weird. It has dead llamas and weird herbal concoctions everywhere. It's a bit scary! We spent the afternoon searching through the small, jam packed shops and bargaining with the women. My best purchase was a big black and brown leather weekend bag. We got some great bargains, and knew we'd spend a fortune on these items at home. We got a bit carried away and lost track of time. We'd been shopping for three hours! We felt like we were a target, walking around with our leather bags and nipped into somewhere for something to eat. We went to catch our El Dorado bus at 7:30pm to Sucre. The bus was really nice, but we were very on edge with our bags because of the stories we'd heard about in Bolivia. We arrived in the morning at about 9am and felt like we'd slept which was good!