La Paz

Last Wednesday we got back to Cochabamba after an exhausting trip to La Paz and then Tocoli, a small village right on Lake Titicaca. It was an amazing excursion but my body felt broken afterwards (and my stomach too). Anyway, I think the easiest way for me to write about La Paz is to just break it down for you all in a list.

The city of La Paz

Dead animals for sale

Wednesday March 12th

1. Morning flight to La Paz, not the capital city of Bolivia technically, but where all the government offices are. Also, a city at a very high altitude.

2. As soon as we arrived we got straight onto the bus to head over to UPEA, the public university in El Alto. La Paz and El Alto are two separate cities right next to each other. La Paz is the more wealthy part and many of the students at the public university in El Alto come from the campo and they have a very large indigenous population in their student body. We got a brief introduction to the university which is largely controlled by their student government. Also, although the classes are taught in spanish, all of the professors are required to speak Aymara, the indigenous language, making the university more accessible to indigenous students. After that, we broke into small groups and got to talk to students in the history major. The two girls I spoke with promised to friend me on Facebook but I am still waiting.

UPEA

3. After lunch we headed to Teatro Trono, an NGO working with street kids and teaching them different performance arts. We got to see a little bit of a breakdancing class and took a tour of the building. It was a really cool organization that seems to really be having a positive impact. They have a radio station, a black box theater, a fake mine in the basement, and lots of classrooms for various music/dance classes.  The kids put on performances and sell tickets and the organization receives additional funding from an organization in Denmark.

Teatro Trono's very own KWUR

Breakdancing 

4. Walked around El Alto a bit. We went to a market place where many of the kids that work with Teatro Trono live. Our guide also pointed out a bunch of hostel-like places where there is unfortunately a lot of child prostitution. It was a pretty intense and upsetting walk around, but also really interesting. Plus, they were burning Palo Santo every which way so the scent reminded me of my trip to Peru.

5. Laura, Olivia, Maddy and I went out to pizza as a pre-celebration for Laura's birthday which was going to be that Sunday when we were in the village (she got sick unfortunately and never made it to the village so she spend her 21st birthday sick and traveling back to Cochabamba...so sad) Anyway, we got delicious pizza and I drew on a napkin which they had under the glass on the tables so if anybody makes it back to the pizza restaurant to the left of Hotel Gloria in La Paz, Bolivia, be sure to check out my art work. After that Maddy and I attempted to go to the discoteca recommended by the guy at our hotel but since it was a Wednesday night we were two of 6 people there. We decided to walk around the city a bit instead then call it a night.

Thursday:

1. Olivia and I woke up to a knock on our door from Maddy and Laura (at like 8am) and they had already eaten breakfast. Crazy people. Anyway, we got up and went to the hotel breakfast which was AWESOME. I got to eat mini pancakes with bananas, yogurt and banana, and scrambled eggs (not with banana). It was an excellent way to start off our day.

Souvenirs everywhere!

2. We had basically the whole day free so I walked around with a few people from my group and did a lot of shopping. I bought far more than I meant to but it was all gifts, at least that is what I'm telling myself. There is tons of awesome shopping in La Paz, it is a tourist's heaven.

3. Went to a cuban restaurant for lunch and had the most awesome avocado, chicken, and tomato sandwich. I could've eaten like four of them but I controlled myself.

4. Went to the central plaza and fed pigeons. I felt like I was back in venice because the pigeons were not afraid to sit on your head and eat directly out of your hand. It was kind of horrifying but also fun.

In the central plaza enjoying the rain

5. Went to an evening talk by Mujeres Creando, a feminist group working to create their ideal community. They talked about how community should be one body made up of two halves, one male half, one female half. They do street art make their message accessable and it was fascinating to hear their point of view. By the end of the talk though I was starving and really sleepy.

6. Went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Heck yeah.

Friday:

1. Woke up at the crack of dawn to go to a meeting at a government office. We talked about Andean cosmo-vision and the importance of being connected to Mother Earth. He argued that the government should incorporate the traditional Andean values into law, but at the same time those traditional values don't represent all of Bolivia. It is the constant struggle of a country that has such a diverse range of cultures.

Government Meeting

2. Headed to Melting Pot Bolivia and the restaurant Gustu. It is a cooking school working with local Bolivians and the restaurant attached to the project is considered one of the best in the world. After talking to some of the students we got to try the food. It was incredible. Best cinnamon roll I have every had in my life by far. I considered switching my final project to being about them simply so I could eat there every day for a month.

So delicious

Coca salteñas, humitas, and yucca things on a stick

Maddy and I went around a scraped humita
skins that others had left behind

For mom, all their wine is Bolivian. And there is a lot of it!

3. Most of us went to Valley de la Luna. See picture.

Nina and me at Valley de la Luna

Casa de los Ningunos

4. We had a charla (talk/discussion) with Casa de Ningunos, basically a co-op of young adults in La Paz living a sustainable lifestyle and creating their ideal community. We talked a lot about how many different conceptions there are of what community is/means. They also do sustainable lunches where they teach people about conscious eating. They were super fun/cool people. They seemed so nice and genuine I just wanted to keep hanging out with them. Perhaps I should do my final project on them instead?






5. Olivia, Maddy and I went to a random discoteca after dinner. We got a pitcher of Hawaii (a delicious tropical drink) for like five dollars and we were shockingly the only tourists there. Although I was exhausted the next day it was a fun way to end our extremely busy, but exciting time in La Paz.