Best Wishes from the Cat

Mothers meeting in La Paz

Another spectacular bus journey around Lake Titicaca as we left Copacabana for La Paz, Bolivia's capital city and the highest in the world at 3660m. After travelling for several hours across the altiplano (high plateau) we began to wonder where the city actually was. How could we not see a sprawling city with a population of 1.5 million people? Suddenly we were at the edge of a massive canyon, and in it sits La Paz, with its buildings literally climbing on top of eachother in what looks like an attempt to escape.

Some impressive sights so far but Bolivia is an illusion as nothing is quite what it seems. It’s been a challenge, or to put it another way, like walking through mud. The transport has been excellent albeit organised chaos but the cold has been difficult for us and its not even the coldest season here. We realise its cold at home but you can get warm in a centrally heated house, cafe, restaurant, shop, or have a hot bath or shower. In Bolivia, none of the above apply so when you get cold you stay cold. Nowhere is heated and hot showers have about a one in four strike rate. Everyday we look forward to our hot evening meal and everyday we sit in a freezing restaurant for about an hour and out comes the hot meal which in Bolivia works on a sliding scale between cold and slightly less cold. The best was a lasagna which had one piece of uncooked pasta floating on an undescribable liquid. We weren’t too sure what we were supposed to do with the knife and fork. So much so that after a week we succumbed to a pricey traditional English dish, a good old Jalfrezi which wasn't the best curry in the world but under the circumstances, it probably was. We ignored the fact that the naan bread smelled and tasted like the cat had left its best wishes on it.

In addition, getting cash out of an ATM is a bit like a treasure hunt and internet connection is completely random and unreliable. Cafes that advertise free Wifi just switch it off if there aren't enough customers and some of the small hotels switch it off if their kids want to play a computer game.

All we look for in any cheap accommodation is somewhere clean, secure and our only luxury, a private bathroom. Its not until you actually use the bathroom do you realise that there is either no hot water, no toilet seat, no handle on the door so when you first close it there is no way of getting out apart from yelling, and the best one is the towel rail fitted so high that I can’t even reach it and I’m a good six inches taller than the average Bolivian.  Our accommodation usually includes free tea and coffee all day which we've yet to see a drop and the inclusive American breakfasts consist of a stale roll with jam and some cold scrambled egg. Not quite the breakfasts we remember in America.

As we lay huddled together to keep warm beneath some very questionable blankets which I’m sure have one or two stories to tell of their own, we reflect and laugh at each days' events and wonder what the next one holds in store. Its certainly an adventure and quite an experience and more than likely Bolivia will end up being one of our top destinations.