La Paz

La Paz

We left our beloved Isla del Sol in the cold rain and took the boat back to Copacabana. The bad news is that somewhere between Cusco and Copacabana, Jonathan's camera was lost or stolen. It is terrible in so many ways, first of all because it was a seriously nice camera with a very nice lens and it was quite expensive. But even worse is the loss of all those amazing photos. We uploaded some in Costa Rica and a few in Ecuador but almost all of Ecuador and all of Peru are lost. We realized it was gone once we got to Isla del Sol, so it could have been left in Cusco, or it could have been stolen over night on the bus.

Once we got back to Copacabana, Jonathan went and filed a police report, so that we could file a claim with our travel insurance. I called back to the South American Explorers club in Cuzco just to make sure we hadn't left it there, but they hadn't seen it. The other really sad part is that Jonathan had tried to upload all the pictures in the clubhouse, but the Internet had crashed and none of them were uploaded. All the photos I've been uploading to Facebook are just taken with my iPhone, so you can imagine how wonderful Jonathan's shots were. 

So we tried not to talk about photos, and we took a bus from Copacabana to La Paz.  La Paz is the capital of Bolivia, a huge city, and it sits in a bowl, with huge mountains all around. It's like someone took a giant ice-cream scoop and scooped out this valley and then filled it completely with buildings, buses and cars spewing smoke. It is one of the most polluted cities in the world, because the smog has no where to go except to sit in this bowl. 

We found a cheap little hostel with saggy beds, but it was safe and in the "witches' market" area. This is a market where the bruhos (witch doctors/healers) sell all sorts of magic healing things. There were endless little figurines representing all sorts of things - luck in love, fertility, travel, work, health, etc, etc. There were also endless stalls selling llama fetuses. Yes, you read that right. Supposedly (and I need to look this up) llamas become pregnant with 5 or 6 fetuses, and they abort them one at a time until they hold onto the last one for the full term. The native people keep these aborted fetuses, dry them out, and then use them as offerings to Pachamama - mother earth - along with many other herbs, candies, figurines, etc, that they burn in ceremonies. Pretty wild. 

We found a fantastic Cuban restaurant that night and filled up our bellies. The next day we wandered through all the different markets. There is a huge black market, and we went there first ( secretly hoping we might find Jonathan's camera for sale there!)  This was probably the most claustrophobic thing we've done  so far. All the markets we've been to have been incredibly jam packed, but this was ridiculous.  We somehow got stuck on the aisles selling shoes, clothing, backpacks, and school supplies. And once you get in, it's hard to get out! We never found the electronics area, so we worked our way through the kitchen supplies, bathroom fixtures, fabrics, and on and on. Finally we squeezed out of the madness and went to another market that sold food. We got some great fruits and veggies and found salteñas and tucumenas for sale on the street - these are sort of like empanadas but way better, stuffed to the max with meat, veggies, and goodness. 

We spent the afternoon visiting a museum of the coca plant and wandering through the witches market and all the artisan's goods for sale around our hostel. Tomorrow we've decided to go to the town of Oruro, because we have heard so much about the Carnaval celebration there. It is supposed to be the second largest Carnaval celebration in the Americas, behind Rio de Janeiro.  The real celebrations don't get started until Saturday, but we're hoping to see some of the preparation and lead up in the next couple days.