La Paz to Uyuni

Finally, we had a real sleep in! I was very stiff from the bike ride yesterday. I had a quick bite to eat (stale bread, banana and coffee) then went to meet the others at the English pub because England was playing in the world cup. Neil, our tour guide was already very tipsy at 10.30am.

We did a free walking tour that started next to the famous San Pedro prison. We wound through the Saturday markets that sold everything from kitchen appliances, clothes, undies and bras, cow tongues, livers, fresh fruit and veges, dehydrated potatoes, pantry goods – basically everything. The indigenous women – Cholitas – who wear the big skirts and bowler hats sat at every stall. You can’t take photos of them, as they see it as taking a piece of their soul and will attack or confront you if you get caught.

There aren’t really shops in La Paz, the way we know them. Everything is sold on the street. And apprently people are very loyal to the cholita they buy from, they have one for every type of good (fruit, meat...) who is like their second mother.

Next was the witches market. Here it seems like mostly sovenaire shops, but there are also llama fetuses hanging from the shops and heaps of herbal teas designed to fix every problem. There are loads of sparkly lucky charms too. People in La Paz are very superstitious and actually go to these witches to solve their problems, it’s not just a tourist market.

Then we saw the cathedral, another more modern market, and the presidential house, where we heard a short history of the fates of Bolivia’s almost 200 odd presidents. One was hung from a lampost outside the building by his people. One escaped to the USA with almost 50% of the entire country’s money and is still there. There are bullet holes all across the square.

We left the tour early before the free shots started flowing. I saw Susie in a window of the cafe we went to the other night, so everyone joined and had lunch. It was almost 3pm when we swung past the English pub to find our guide still in a bit of a state.

I returned to the hotel, to find my laundry had gone missing. It turned up the same time as the bus to take us to the airport. There, the guide had to check us in while very drunk. I called Mum to talk about Lucy’s engagement and say happy birthday to Dad!

We got a very short plane ride to Uyuni. Our guide was a total mess and left his phone on the plane and was doing lion king impressions, but we couldn’t stop laughing. No one was annoyed about it.

Dinner was pizza and a few bottles of red wine in our hotel. We snuggled into our beds around midnight.