La Paz, Bolivia

La Carretera de la muerte is a 3 meters wide gravel road that used to see many deaths per year, as many as 100 on average. You can ride down its 67km by bike and it is very cool, but it is not as scary as they say if you do something very simple…USE THE BREAKS…

I saw 3 people crashing, not major injuries, but still injuries, and while you go down the mountain (you start at 4,700 meters) you see crosses commemorating the people that have died along it…

Bottom line, a very cool bike trek down hill for hours, non stop, but not as dangerous as they say.

It’s all about FOCUS!!

La Paz is a very nice and interesting city.
Very polluted, very dirty, people pee on the street (I have seen women and men and kids doing so), so it stinks of pee.
Fortunately it rains a lot, so it cleans it a bit. Obviously not everybody does pee on the streets. Some people only do.
Some people throw rubbish on the streets, but not in garbage bags, without it!

There is probably 10 traffic lights in town only, everybody honks all the time and people shout constantly from minivans their destination.
The city is dangerous as criminals dressed up as policemen get in your taxi and ask you for documents and money and make away with it…

And yet….

Colors are vibrant, people are very friendly and relaxed and they are very proud of their traditions.
The altitude (3,660 m) and the coca leaves blend to produce the charm of this beautiful country’s capital.

I was very lucky in meeting a few locals. No, not accidentally. One of my best friends Gabriele introduced me to his ex girlfriend Natalia who is from La Paz.
Natalia introduced me to her current boyfriend Alexis. Alexis introduced me to his cousin, Jessica. Jessica introduced me to her friend and so on. So from one day to the other you have many things to do but most of all you get a local insight thanks to them.
One night I went out for dinner with Natalia and Alexis. He is a drummer so we clicked straight away as I love music (in case you didn’t know), and he is a very interesting person, who always comes up with interesting anecdotes or jokes.
We all went for drinks, got tipsy (at least I did) and planned to play tennis on sunday.
On sunday it rained like there is no tomorrow.
I didn’t see Noah going around the streets looking for all the species of animals, only because I stayed indoor not to get wet…..
So on sunday we resorted to meeting up and having duck for lunch instead of playing tennis.
Over lunch I met Jessica, Alexis cousin. She used to work for the UN and used to be based in different african countries. Very sweet and interesting girl.
They took me to see the Valle de la luna, a canyon built by the effect of erosion.
The following week Natalia invited me to her home to have lunch (amazing house).
She arranged for typical bolivian food to be prepared: a tipical soup (amazing), chicken with quinoa, local 3-variety wine, figs with cream (almost orgasmic) and grape from the south west of the country.
I met most of her family and started feeling at home!!!
Natalia connected me with the italian embassy (she arranged a lot for me) whom I played football with the next sunday. We lost the match to the bolivian opponents.
No wonder, without organization and or leader, no company, no group will ever progress.
But still, I loved it as I did what most of people dream of and talk about, playing football in the mythical land, where the air is rarified, where water for the pasta boils much slower and where the foot ball can only travel straight (no effect) because there is less friction from less air…
I didn’t even get the chance to shoot at the goal. I only focused on playing with the others and to run. Every time I sprinted it felt like I had run a full 42km marathon. I was dying every other minute. Don’t they say the first time it always hurt?…..Still, I loved it.
The next week I went out again with Natalia, Alexis and Jessica. Alexis was having a rock concert for 3 nights in a row. I had high expectations from him in terms of performance, but he exceeded them.
His group played very well covers of the 80′s rock hits: ACDC, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake etc..
So much so that I went to the concert 3 nights in a row.
On saturday Natalia and Alexis took me to an italian barbecue, at night we had another typical bolivian dinner at Jessica’s (very good cook) and then went to the concert all together.
The next day I played football and then cooked a pasta at Natalia’s place and we ended up drinking wine for hours, listening to italian music (Natalia has lived in the U.S., London and in Rome). What a treat!
Her friends were lovely and there I tried another typical bolivian thing: cinnamon ice cream.
Bottom line, instead of spending 3 days in La Paz, I ended up staying there for 14 days! That meant that I could no longer see so much of Peru.
When you put so much weight on one dish of the libra, the other one will inevitably get lighter…
It’s all about priorities.
Was it worth it? Of course it was.
The whole experience was great. I felt at home and when you do so, you really like a place.
I saw museums, walked around, saw the views, and took many pictures of the people, but the best of La Paz still is the amazing people that opened their doors and hearts to me.
When people have faith and open up, the world is a fantastic place : )
Next time it will be my turn to be nice….

The best bit of it is that me and Natalia are going to the same wedding in Mexico in a couple of weeks. What a random coincidence. She is friend with the bride and I am friend with the groom.
Amazing how small the world is!!

Via | TravelPod

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