La Paz

La Paz slideshow

It was perfect that Antonio, my host in La Paz, was the owner of a vegetarian restaurant right in the heart of town, off Avenida Prado. I took the train from the Salar de Uyuni to Oruru at midnight. It was a very comfortable ride. The train was heated, blankets, sandwiches and tea were offered and by 7am we were arriving at the train station. But Oruru, another high altitude place, was very cold, and by the time I arrived in La Paz the next day (it is three hours away) I had a bad cold.

Antonio made me tangerine, orange, lemon, ginger, cinnamon tea and gave me pieces of ginger to chew on for my cold. And besides the wonderful vegetarian food of local potatoes (there are over 200 types of potatoes in the Andes, and I was told it was the Incas who planted them first), salads, soups and main dishes, there was the protein-rich pancake for breakfast, made of roasted quinoa, flax seeds and corn mixed in with bananas and nuts, nothing else. The drink was a thick maroon liquid made of red corn cooked for several hours with apples, cinnamon, cloves and ginger called Chicha Morada. It is a typical Peruvian drink and the fruit can change to include peaches, pineapple, etc. Was that yummy and feeling! I didn't feel hungry again until dinner time.

La Paz is a very striking city when seen from up the hill, down into the valley. I couldn't stop taking pictures as we were arriving in town, but I was not on the right side of the bus and most pictures do not portray well what I saw. When down in the valley, La Paz feels like a colorful and vibrant city with thousands of eateries, pedestrian bridges, and the always busy Pedro Murilo Square where the governmental offices are.

The downtown area and the best apartments and houses are located in the valley, while the rest of the city is build up on the hills surrounding the valley in a full 360 degrees! Most of the buildings up the hill don't look quite finished, as they expose bare bricks, instead of paint.

I stayed in bed recovering from my cold a whole day after my arrival, and the next day I was ready to explore. Since I stayed in the Prado area, it was easy to walk to museums, important sites, like the Presidential and Legislative Palaces, banks, shopping area, restaurants and Internet. But when I read that Coroico is only three away and and more than 3,000 feet lower in altitude, I knew this was my next destination. After all, I was feeling better, but my cold was not completely gone. I needed more rest in a warm and relaxing place.