Today we had booked with Banjo tours for the city tour of La Paz. The guide Ben has glowing reputation to take his clients to non-touristy and local places, so I booked a tour with him. The tour was to commence only at 1:45 PM. So we had the morning off today.
After having breakfast at the hotel, we took a map from the front desk, and walked towards Sagarnaga street, the main touristy strip. This place is very famous for its Alpaca wool sweaters. These were much cheaper than Peru, mostly because tourism has not picked up so much in Bolivia compared to Peru. We bargained in few shops and finally got a sweater for Divya at a cheap price.
Then we returned back to the hotel to have lunch at Namaste.
At Namaste, we shared an almuerzo [Set menu lunch where the lunch includes soup, starter, main dish and desert]. The starter was carrot, raisins and honey, the soup was made with veggies and white beans, the main course was curry rice and the desert was some cookies. The lunch was simply amazing. Then after a great lunch, we went back to the hotel and waited for Ben, the guide for the city tour.
We met Ben at 1:45 Pm, and then started the city tour. Ben picked up 3 more clients - one was a Singaporean girl who had quit work to travel this year, and 2 kids from UK around 17 years, who looked elder to me :). The kids had just finished school and they had worked part-time to earn money to do the South American backpacking trip. So we had an interesting set of people as company in this walking tour.
In the first part of the tour, Ben took us to the standard touristy spots - the San Francisco church, and Sagarnaga street. One interesting street was Jaen street, which was very colorful.
Next we passed through a set of protestors. These were the school teachers protesting, because they wanted a raise. Bolivia is common for protests, and usually they block the roads. When some roads are blocked, people don't attempt to use those roads, and instead just use alternate ones.
La paz also has a very interesting prison, the San Pedro prison. The prison is like a city, and usually the criminal stays along with his/her family inside the prison. There are no police inside the prison, they stay outside and guard from outside. Previously, there were tours inside this prison, but they were stopped now due to safety reasons.
Then after the usual tourist spots, Ben took us on a city bus to the city of El Alto. This is the twin city of La Paz, and this is where many local people live. This part is considered dangerous by many people, but it just looked like a busy Indian street to me.
First we visited the local markets, and got some snacks.
After the local market, we were to see the most interesting part of the tour. The visit to the Witch doctors or Shaman. These people are the astrologers. There was a street full of shops, where behind every door was a astrologer. See pictures below
We met 2 witch doctors on this day. The first person was Franklin. Franklin survived a lightning attack, so was chosen by village people to be a witch doctor. Usually every witch doctor has a story like this, or they are children of witch doctors. Witch doctors answer 3 questions for just 10 Bolivianos. They use coca leaves, throw them around, and depending upon how they fall, give our predictions. It was very interesting. That day, Franklin did not have coca leaves left, so we went to a different witch doctor. Every member of the touring party asked for the future, and it was fun and interesting.
The witch doctor spoke only Spanish, but our guide did all the translation work. After this visit, we saw the local witch market. Here they were selling dried llama fetuses and babies. The local belief is that every new building/car etc should have a llama fetus purchased and buried. For example, every building should have this under its basement.
After a great tour of the local places, we then took a taxi back to La paz, and bid Ben goodbye.
We then continued to Namaste around 6:30 PM for dinner. That night, we had Pad Thai and some soup for dinner, and it was again very good. After dinner, we then went off to sleep.
After having breakfast at the hotel, we took a map from the front desk, and walked towards Sagarnaga street, the main touristy strip. This place is very famous for its Alpaca wool sweaters. These were much cheaper than Peru, mostly because tourism has not picked up so much in Bolivia compared to Peru. We bargained in few shops and finally got a sweater for Divya at a cheap price.
Then we returned back to the hotel to have lunch at Namaste.
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| Divya's favorite shop |
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| Shops at La Paz |
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| San Pedro plaza and Hotel Osira at left |
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| Local selling fruits |
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| Namaste veggie restaurant |
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| The Tata behind Divya was also a regular lunch customer- saw him every time we were here |
At Namaste, we shared an almuerzo [Set menu lunch where the lunch includes soup, starter, main dish and desert]. The starter was carrot, raisins and honey, the soup was made with veggies and white beans, the main course was curry rice and the desert was some cookies. The lunch was simply amazing. Then after a great lunch, we went back to the hotel and waited for Ben, the guide for the city tour.
We met Ben at 1:45 Pm, and then started the city tour. Ben picked up 3 more clients - one was a Singaporean girl who had quit work to travel this year, and 2 kids from UK around 17 years, who looked elder to me :). The kids had just finished school and they had worked part-time to earn money to do the South American backpacking trip. So we had an interesting set of people as company in this walking tour.
In the first part of the tour, Ben took us to the standard touristy spots - the San Francisco church, and Sagarnaga street. One interesting street was Jaen street, which was very colorful.
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| Our guide Ben |
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| San Francisco cathedral |
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| Colorful Jaen street |
Next we passed through a set of protestors. These were the school teachers protesting, because they wanted a raise. Bolivia is common for protests, and usually they block the roads. When some roads are blocked, people don't attempt to use those roads, and instead just use alternate ones.
 |
| Protestors |
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| The city tour gang |
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| some random group on street |
La paz also has a very interesting prison, the San Pedro prison. The prison is like a city, and usually the criminal stays along with his/her family inside the prison. There are no police inside the prison, they stay outside and guard from outside. Previously, there were tours inside this prison, but they were stopped now due to safety reasons.
 |
| San pedro prison |
Then after the usual tourist spots, Ben took us on a city bus to the city of El Alto. This is the twin city of La Paz, and this is where many local people live. This part is considered dangerous by many people, but it just looked like a busy Indian street to me.
First we visited the local markets, and got some snacks.
 |
| we went in local buses like these |
 |
| El Alto local market |
 |
| The shop where we got banana chips and corn |
After the local market, we were to see the most interesting part of the tour. The visit to the Witch doctors or Shaman. These people are the astrologers. There was a street full of shops, where behind every door was a astrologer. See pictures below
 |
| Witch doctors every door |
We met 2 witch doctors on this day. The first person was Franklin. Franklin survived a lightning attack, so was chosen by village people to be a witch doctor. Usually every witch doctor has a story like this, or they are children of witch doctors. Witch doctors answer 3 questions for just 10 Bolivianos. They use coca leaves, throw them around, and depending upon how they fall, give our predictions. It was very interesting. That day, Franklin did not have coca leaves left, so we went to a different witch doctor. Every member of the touring party asked for the future, and it was fun and interesting.
 |
| With Franklin, the witch doctor who survived lightning |
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| The most popular witch doctor doing his job |
The witch doctor spoke only Spanish, but our guide did all the translation work. After this visit, we saw the local witch market. Here they were selling dried llama fetuses and babies. The local belief is that every new building/car etc should have a llama fetus purchased and buried. For example, every building should have this under its basement.
 |
| dried llama fetus and babies |
 |
| View from Franklin's witch doctor clinic |
After a great tour of the local places, we then took a taxi back to La paz, and bid Ben goodbye.
We then continued to Namaste around 6:30 PM for dinner. That night, we had Pad Thai and some soup for dinner, and it was again very good. After dinner, we then went off to sleep.
2 comments:
Seems you people had a very nice time in La Paz. I like the way you have described your itenary here along with the picture captions. By the way pictures are also very good. Overall, I enjoyed reading your experience.
Steve
Tours of San Francisco
Thanks a lot Steve :)
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