Monday

Driving back to La Paz today but one more thing about Copacabana.

If you get a new car, bus or whatever, bring it here to get it blessed at the cathedral and everything will be alright. We saw many vehicles decked out in ribbons, drapes and flowers for this purpose. It’s cheaper than insurance and it’s a good chance to show off the new wheels. Cars are quite a status symbol and it’s obviously great fun and makes their owners very proud when the priest sprinkles the holy water all over.

The long drive back to La Paz would be tedious if you had to do it regularly, but the llamas, lone people seemingly miles from anywhere in the arid hills, strange birds, isolated graveyards etc. keep you on the lookout all the way.

We hit El Alto-the urban growth spreading along the flatlands over the rim of the La Paz ‘bowl’, during the rush hour. The congestion lasts all the way downhill to our La Paz hotel. Road markings in Bolivia are poor and the technique is to point your vehicle in the desired direction and just drive. Cars, lorries, rubbish vehicles, everything, in a kind of slow moving vortex.

Nobody touches anyone else although we are inches apart. It works. You gradually push your way through. Nobody gets irate. You’re all in it together.

We check in then walk to the Witches’ Market. La Paz is a strange place. The outlying slum look gives way to a dark, enchanted kind of feel towards the centre. The Witches’ Market is like a well from which this weirdness flows.

You can buy the usual tourist stuff here-in abundance. The alpaca chompas, table cloths, little statues etc. etc.

AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

You can also buy charms and talismans such as toad skins, snake skins, toucan heads, dried birds and llama foetuses.
Walking back through the streets with this brooding atmosphere as darkness descends is unforgettable. The leathery-faced old women wrapped in dark shawls sit along the pavements. If you slow, they call out to you in little broken voices hoping you’ll buy their dark wares.

Promotional t shirt printing

Related posts:

1. What’s next in Bolivia?
2. Back to Bolivia
3. Bolivia te amamos
4. Another dollop of Bolivia
5. And then…in Bolivia?