The bus ride from Uyuni to La Paz is 10 hours long. Actually I had read other travel blogs and got to know that the road condition was very bad and bumpy, hence I took one motion sickness pill to prevent me from puking in advance. After getting on the bus, dinner was ready to be served already. Gradually I felt very sleepy and fell asleep right after I finished the food. I could not believe that when I opened my eyes, the bus already arrived at La Paz's bus station. Mario, who sat next to me, thought it was so unbelievable that I was not woken up a bit while the car was shaking for 10 hours straight. As expected, he and the Australian couple could not fall asleep for the whole bus ride.
When we got off from the bus, we could finally separate our ways. Mario recommended one hotel near the Witches' Market to the couple. And then he would fly to the Amazon in the afternoon to continue his rain forest adventure. And me? I jumped onto the taxi and fled to Wild Rover Backpackers Hostel at once. Before getting on the taxi, I was a bit scared by the story I had read. It was about 2 girls who took a taxi from the bus station in La Paz and they were then kidnapped and got everything robbed. However, the hostel was quite far away from the bus station, I decided to take the risk regardless. In the end, I arrived at the hostel safe and sound!
 |
| Government Palace |
Wild Rover is another hostel which has the check-in time restriction. But I could not stand it any longer to wait from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. I took a shower and then left to the city center. Before taking shower, I had spent my time sitting in the hostel's restaurant. There was actually one computer in front of the restaurant's entrance. Suddenly, a guy dropped on the floor and made a big noise there. At first I thought it was some stupid people who pushed him. But then it was an English guy who had epilepsy seizure. And I was so scared seeing it from where I sat. The hostel staff quickly came. When the guy appeared to be better, they persuaded him to go to the hospital, but the guy insisted not to go and said he would be fine. In fact, I had already met this guy on the second day of my salt flats tour. I could remember him, because I gave him a friendly reminder that the rocks were very slippery and asked him to be more careful when I was sitting in the hot spring. Of course, I did not tell him my toe nail was severely cracked. It would be so embarrassing!
 |
| La Paz Cathedral |
 |
| San Francisco Church |
 |
| My lunch - tortilla |
Owing to the fact that I had read many bad things about the dangers in La Paz, for example, some people who got robbed when their heads were forcefully pressed on the floor, etc. I was extra vigilant while I was walking to the Witches' Market. I spent the whole afternoon wandering around the Witches' Market and I decided to visit the Coca museum.
Although Coca-Cola company never revealed their secret recipe of coke, I got to know they still annually imported huge amount of coca leaves from South America. Actually coca leaves are easily seen everywhere in Bolivia, they can help refresh people's mind and wash away their tiredness.
In order not to faint away, Pablo always chewed coca leaves while driving, which was way better than those heartless drivers who drank alcohol to keep them awake, yet put other's life at stake on the other hand.
In South America, drinking coca leaves tea or chewing some coca leaves in the mouth can soothe altitude sickness. Fortunately I was already acclimatized in Tupiza for a few days, and so far have had no chance to try the coca leaves tea!
 |
| Coca Museum |
 |
| The Witches' Market |
 |
| The Witches' Market |
At night, I could finally move in to my dorm room. And I even had dinner in the hostel's restaurant - Pork chop with mashed potatoes, highly recommended!
 |
| My not-tasty afternoon tea |
 |
| The delicious pork chop with mashed potato |
0 comments:
Post a Comment