Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bus to Bolivia

Day 14: September 5, 2007

Stayed up a little past midnight last night trying to get the internet to work before giving up with no success. Woke up at 5AM to catch a bus to La Paz, Bolivia. The bus was late and didn’t end up leaving until 9:30AM. I'm pretty bitter that I could have slept for another four hours.


The operator of the internet café in the bus terminal was also over an hour late, but I still managed to send some email before leaving. Also ate a chocolate crepe/pancake thing at the terminal restaurant. Good but salty.


The bus ride took about 8 hours but we had a decent bus this time and mostly just watched movies. I read a little of Clarence Darrow's biography as well. When we arrived in Bolivia, we had to deal with passports and border security. The guard tried to give me the wrong change for the border toll but I argued with him in Spanish and he gave me my change eventually. Apparently they try to cheat tourists (and everyone else) with regularity.


From the border we drove to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, and actually the highest capital city in the world. Did a walking tour of La Paz, particularly the witches market and then used the internet before dinner. La Paz is much nicer than the sketchy border area. It’s scrunched in a canyon. Pretty at night with lights all up the cliffs. We went to Mongo’s for dinner. It was a burger place but the burgers tasted kind of rancid and overall the restaurant wasn’t very good. Came home and arranged laundry and a mountain bike adventure down the Death Road for tomorrow.

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