Sunday 9th April 2017
La Paz, Bolivia.
Took the cable car
"Teleferico" above the city from the Estación Central "Taypi
Uta" and up to El Alto "Feria 16 de Junio". Visited the Sunday Market in
El Alto, which was a massive affair. The
section we saw was selling vehicles, vehicle parts and tools. Probably was
about 5% of the whole thing. People visit this just to pass the time as well as
buying goods. When we returned back down the red teleferico, the queues to go
up to the market were huge – probably about 2 hours before they would get one
of the cars (10x to a car).
The views from the cable cars are superb, and show that there is
very little greenery in the city, all the houses are squashed together and the
only way to go is build upwards. Some
have made a real effort and have finished off their building with a little
chalet-type top apartment – called Cholets (ladies like them so Cholita
Chalets!). Others have let rubbish
strewn around. Another cable car is likely to be ready in a few weeks, and each
has only taken a few months to build. A really good innovation for a
mountainous city (1000m drop in height top to bottom). Some very dodgy buildings have gone up though
and some parts of the mountain look like they could be subject of landslides.
No insurance possible here!
Visited Parque Laikacota for a view of central city, then into the cathedral
which was in the middle of a Palm Sunday service. I’ve never seen such a crowded church –
standing room only. Most families were
holding a palm, which instead of plain crosses, were interwoven intricate
designs – sold in the market immediately outside. Started to rain so straight to lunch. The
restaurant had previously fallen into disrepair, and was being pulled down when
a stash of old silver coins were found in a secret passage, which paid for a
complete rebuild. Again, quinoa and
vegetable/beef soup with pork scratchings, trout with quinoa and cheese base,
slice of crème caramel. Waddled out and
had the choice of shopping in the markets or returning to hotel. The others stayed
shopping in the pouring rain. We returned, hence finally caught up on this
blog!
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