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La Paz. nestled in a massive canyon with snow peaked Andes in the distance,
lies a capital city with the highest elevation in the world. La Paz. what a
trip this city is. full on city vibes but with indigenous and modern culture
existing side by side. woman with traditional dress of short petticoats(up
to seven at a time), top hats(tilted ever so slightly), two long braids with
big yarn adornments at the bottom, gold framed teeth and a baby (or other
various items) strapped to their backs in brightly coloring fabric.
juxtiposed against modern girls with make-up and mini skirts with big high
heeled boots. and then everything inbetween. the site is striking and i am
kept very entertained by the visual landscape. we are loving it here. we
have splurged on a really nice hotel right in the grooviest area, with
satallite tv and all the ammenities that we have been starved of. ie. hot
showers, water pressure, toilet seats, toilet paper, a heater, pillows made
of something soft(rather that coiled yarn or something rough and
uncomfortable),flea-free beds, and so much more!!! we have fully enjoyed MTV
Bolivia, latin HBO(which shows the absolute STRANGEST movies i have ever
seen( in english thankfully) and some quick commericials for the latest in
petticoats!! ha ha. the local commericals are hilarious!
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but the real excitement happened last night, one of their independence day
celebrations, and oh do these bolivians know how to party? we did not
realize what weekend we had stumbled into la paz on! so at about 6 p.m. we
decide to walk to the student area of the city to catch a film. as we start
to walk down from our hotel we notice that the main street has been closed
off, people are starting to set up little stalls and there are hundreds of
people hustling about, building little worlds with speakers and cooking
areas, etc. this is happening for blocks and we are like wow. there is
something happening tonight(we had no clue before hand!!) as we walk a man
turns and sneezes right on me. full on llama-style wetness in my hair and
neck. ugh. i was like what the..., but he felt bad, we were glad it was just
an accident because one of the scams we've read about is someone spits or
sneezes on you and the other goes to wipe it off while they robe you!
there were so many people on the street, it was a strange site, but we get
to the theatre and go in to catch ' war of the worlds'. and what a weird
thing happened. we watched this apocolyptic movie with all these people
always in the streets walking, loud noises, fires... and in reality we walk
out of the movie and onto a street with thousands of people walking, loud
noises, fires. it was such a parallel world!! the la paz street party was in
full form: every other stall had cooking meat( wafts of charred flesh filled
our nostrils for hours!!! i cannot even explain how much meat was cooking
last night), the other stalls were brewing this foam beverage called
singani, which we tried and it was hot foamed milk mixed with some fire
water alcohol(sort of like our egg nog but foamy) Then an uneventful parade
which made a barracade that inabled us to pass for about 30 minutes, until a
rush of people ran for it and so we followed!! BAD MOVE. we got trapped on
the other side where sheep mentality took over and they would not let us
pass. so there was a big group of us, rebels, we were the only non-locals,
and we were bascally in the parade unable to penetrate this wall of
onlookers who refused to let us through!! it was nuts. and on top of that
they were yelling at us because we had crossed the parade(there had been a
mini gap in it and we just saw an opportunity) it was the longest and most
embarrasing 3 minutes ever!! finally i looked at this man and did the facial
gesture of 'come on. let us through!!!' and a small hole was created that we
were able to slither thru and pop out the other end. phew...that was
strange! this wild scene went on for not only blocks, but hours and hours.
we headed up to our hotel and came across this sort of underground, coca
speakeasy bar. 10 bolivianos later and we were handed a dish of coca leaves
and 2 large beers. it was such a cool little bar. live pan flutes and a drum
beat that seemed like trance music bpm and people dancing with little
hankerchiefs. they all knew the music and they would sing along. everyone
was raging. lots of coca and alcohol and cigarettes. there was this one
traditional woman sitting upstairs that was keeping it OG, she seemed so out
of place and yet so perfectly situated and holding the whole vibe down and
groovey. after awhile we decided to meander back to the festival to see how
drunk everyone could be. and what we found is difficult to explain. i mean
the oddest thing was that the road had become a river... a river of pee!!!
no joke. there was at any given point about 8 men pissing in any and every
corner and there were streams and in some places full on rivers of piss!!! i
was sort of screaming and walking on my tippy toes and laughing.
we were in search of any sort of food that didn't involve burning flesh.
what we found were stale empanadas, a chocolate bagel thing, and finally a
fried egg with onion and mustard. yeah. 2am munchies...have been satiated.
we squeeze our way through the 500,000 people wissing, laughing, falling
over drunk, dancing, pushing, and we splash through the pee back to our
hotel where we see one last mini parade that was the best one of the night.
these older, distinguished men all drumming and singing, with shakers and
bells and a mom and daughter following with a great little groove going on.
it was such a humble site they were just groovin' off the beaten path, with
a great drum beat and good vibes. it was our goodnight parade and we went
back to our hotel wired from the adventure and in great spirits listening to
the distant party go on until the wee morning hours.
*
until next time
olivia