20-23.08.24

I’ll be honest, after the hike and the journey we had some serious recovering to do. We are delicate flowers and the ordeal was great. As such, I must be honest and say we were very lazy tourists in La Paz and really didn’t see all that much of it! In fact, we didn’t venture far from our hotel and stuck to local areas. A lot of time was spent chilling, reading and on all round general relaxation in our hotel room.

That said, we did venture out. First port of call was another lavandería… Alex had run out of socks and my black leggings were grey with hiking dust. The area that we were in is visually quite interesting, with enough stereotypical tourist clothing to clothe the entire South American continent.

We initially had plans to visit the Coca Museum on our first day, alas the Bolivian Business Model struck again, and whilst the museum was open, there was no one there to take our money or give us the English translation guide. We waited a bit then gave up in favour of a very hipstery cocktail bar that, if it wasn’t careful, would end up in a lawsuit with JK Rowling. It was a cross between a Harry Potter set and a pirate’s lair… an interesting vibe in a landlocked country. Presumably there was piracy on Lake Titicaca.

We had some delicious, if wanky, cocktails that really focused on aromatics. The blurry picture of the purple drink with flowers on it had a very floral bouquet that was reminiscent of grandma. Still delicious.

We then went in search of a highly recommended pizza place for dinner. Our experiences of pizza thus far (only in Cartagena to be fair) had not been good, so we were cautiously hopeful. The pizza did not disappoint! The pizza was huge, one between two was recommended and more than enough. You could also do half and half toppings. They also served Bolivian wine by the glass and these were not measured pours. Delicious. A lovely atmosphere in the place, it was small and cosy. A French guy at the bar who was doing bigger travelling than us was chatty and friendly and the proprietor was also lovely. We got homemade limoncello at the end and everything! Our only regret was being too full for the tiramisu.

The following day followed in much the same pattern. We had grand plans to go and visit a few museums but honestly we couldn’t muster up the energy. We eventually collected our laundry (deliciously fresh smelling) and managed to actually go to the Coca Museum. It was small but incredibly informative and interesting, even if the English hand out felt rather overwhelming in length and wordiness. I couldn’t take any photos inside but the entrance courtyard was beautiful!

We went to another hipstery bar in the same building construct as the museum and the bar from yesterday. Also very nice!

We then, perhaps rather embarrassingly (but we have little shame) went back to the pizza place for a second time. It was as equally delicious as the previous night and we have no regrets other than the fact that the tiramisu had run out and we didn’t get limoncello today.

A nice, restful couple of days, ready for an early ish start on our last day to go to the airport. Next stop: Sucre.