Goodbye civilisation, hello south america

Yep, am in Bolivia now (although pic to right is still BA!) and it is a wonderful return to the hectic chaos that is south america. But brace yourselves cause this is going to have to be a long one, given how slack i have been over the last few days.

So my last few days in BA were spent in pretty much the same fashion as the first 10, making the most of civilisation. Converted 2 more people to the delivery ice cream (although turns out you can order ben and jerrys in leeds...now if they put that in the prespectus of the uni birmingham might have had some competition) and tried to go properly shopping although after all those days drooling over the stuff in the window, when it came down to it, didnt really like any of the leather goods enough to part with the cash that was burning a hole in my pocker. So rather unsurprisingly, Rachel and I had a cake to comiserate! Also had two of the most random nights out ever but top marks has to go to Friday so will start with that......first went off to fave resturant in the world with our two new best friends for massive steak and wine fest......and Cabrera out did all its previous efforts with steaks literally as big as Jess face! We struggled through most of it but had to admit defeat eventually....v. sad. Then for some reason we all got free champagne....not sure why but not going to argue. So there we were in smart resturant and so thought we would go to a tango club and watch some. Unfortunately the one we wanted to go to was closed (due to some new fire regs in BA rather uninterestingly!) so we popped into another one and what a surreal experience it was. Basically a hall upstairs where the doors were covered in mesh, there were transparent curtais hanging around and the bar was a fridge! Not mamy couples dancing but we put a brave face on, drank our beer and made a speedy effort whilst the tangoers laughed at us! Then went onto rather hard dance club to while away the hours until it was socially acceptable to go home.....thank god!

Had a fab day on saturday too. All went off to Recoleta to see the graveyard which is really famous for all its huge tombs which are more like small churches and where the rich families appear to try to outdo each other with baroque odes to their dearly departed loved ones! Rather a hauting, beautiful place, and surprisingly calming in the sun.....apart from Evitas grave which is surrounded by camera toting tourists (myself included!) Also saw some filming happening and got excited about potentially being in the next s american hit, but the bit we saw included 2 cars driving down a road so decided we didnt want to ruin our credentials being associated with such an unpromsing film.

Which brings us nicely to Sunday and my re-entry to S America (it is really hard to think of BA as being S AMerican. Everywhere you turn are European buildings and people and the general vibe is one of a European Capital). Got off to a less than auspicious start with a huge queue to get through migration (had connecting flight in santa cruz) and me being my mothers daughter likes to be everywhere 2 hours early adn only had 30mins to get to my departure gate so my heart was going somewhat. But neednt have worried as the flight from santa cruz to la paz was delayed by 3 hours! Hurrah! Especially as I had managed to attracted man from Quito who kept talking to me despite my copious use of books / ipod / yawning.

This delay then meant I arrived at la Paz at 11.30 where i was given the traditional gringa welcome of a rip off at every turn! First had taxi drivers following me all over the place, then when i finally got one he tried to pursuade me to have more people in the taxi "as there is a shortage of taxis" - ha, no chance. Then he decided to try to charge me $100 for a $6 ride on the basis that I refused to have other people in the taxi. So at this point I threatened to get out and let him take one of these many other desperate taxi-wanting tourists. But surprisingly at this point there appeared to be no-one else wanting his services and he hastily renogtiated to $6!!!! We then had the hard sell of his friends hostel but he eventually gave up in the face of my refrain "thanks but i have a reservation" and turned into the nicest, most helpful taxi driver ever! Very strange. So got guided tour of La Paz by night, much help with my bags and finding my hostel and much "oh you speak such good spanish" etc etc. Unfortuately I was then confounded by the fact that as i was 2hrs late, my hotel had most definately shut up for the night so relinquished all my better judgement and let him take me to his mates hotel cause at least it was opén and had hot water! Rather expensive and with the worlds highest pillow (so felt my neck was about to snap all night) but at least i was in and safe.

And so to today and my first taste of Bolivia, and I love it. Last night began to wonder what I had done and had sick feeling in my stomach this morning, but once I got reaccostomed to the noise, bustle, people and general maddness I definately began to revel in being back in this type of country. La Paz is so crazy...its obviously so high, 3700m, so everything has to be done slowly but it has that real andean brown, hills covered in shacks, women in colouful costumes, markets everywhere feel to it. So had my sightseeing day today and did all the obligatory things (witches markets...saw llama foetus and got shouted at for trying to take a photo, museum, colonial houses) Tried to avoid all the markets as dont feel the need for stripey trousers or a llama infested jacket or pointy hat (although always alarms me just how many other people feel these are vital accessories in the fashion show of life) but went to the prison which is famous for the fact that its inhabitants have to pay to live there. You can try and figure out tours if you can find someone with a friend on the inside, but funnily enough, the thought of being a single blonde woman going into the most notorious jail in s america didnt really appeal! So contented myself peering in the door at the rather calm interior and laughing at the pink walls. Also sweet talked a garage owner to let me wander through his parking lot as i suddenly noticed the most stunning view of the snow capped mountains that overlook La Paz and bought a lovely fruit salad for 30p. My favourite bit though was the square just by the cathederal. It reminded me a bit of Quito, but it was taken over by pigeons and children feeding them which meant that the whole place rang with laughter and really made me smile. I also made two old ladies laugh at me and what i was taking photos of, so i helped contribute!

So am back to feeling like a proper (if cold) traveller again.....all i need now are stripy trousers.....argh, no stop me! And in my flurry of organisation have booked a tour to this ancient site tommorrow, a jungle tour to Bolivias premier ecolodge (rather expensive but figure its worth it if i can contribute to a meaningful way to bring tourism to the jungle without exploiting it - ha, get me!) and a bike ride. not all that sure on the bike ride, but get to ride in a bus on the uphill bits if i want and get a free t-shirt so that sold me!

Right, am now going to try to upload photos on a less than modern machine, so if there arent any, you will know i have failed in my quest!!!!