(Adapted from the travel journals of Lynn Shaw)
The acquisition of Diamox, a drug that fends off the symptoms of high altitude sickness, is a must if you are going to La Paz, Bolivia. If you forget to bring some, every pharmacy and drug store in La Paz can sell you some without an Rx and for a fraction of the price you paid in the states. Otherwise, the ubiquitous “mate de coca” is reputed to be a natural tea substance that will likewise ease the pain of being 12,000 feet above sea level quickly.
Perched at that altitude, the city of La Paz sits in the Andes mountain range like a densely populated bowl of 1.3 million inhabitants. The city center is in the bottom of the bowl. The upward slopes can be accessed by a relatively modern system of cable cars called “telepheriques”. Generally, the higher up you go, the more ramshackle the construction of the buildings will be. At the very top, is the rugged landscape of the Altiplano, a vast flat area with very poor infrastructure and incomplete buildings. The country-side residents of the Altiplano abandon their homes to go down to work in the city center, but when they secure enough funds, they return to them to add on to the ongoing construction project that is their home.
Half of the 11 million people in Bolivia are indigenous Aymara, descendants of the Incas. Most are itinerant street vendors in the markets hawking the usual market fare of fresh produce and other farm products. A kind of specialty market called the witch’s market sells plants, potions and talismans used in ancient Aymara “currandero” (healing) rituals. If you’re not in the market for a little healing, for an exchange of good old fashioned currency a “yatiri” or witch doctor can give you a little fortune reading. If that’s not your thing, many of the stalls in the witch’s market also sell the fetuses of llamas, (claimed by the vendors to be the products of naturally spontaneous abortions) for “good luck” charms that you bury under your house. Because nothing says “good luck” like a decomposing baby llama under your house.
Take a gander at the local traditional garb. A feast for the eyes and also, an unsolved enigma: how do they keep those little hats from rolling right off their heads and down the street? Top secret. Don’t ask. Cause, they won’t tell. And, be quick if you take a photo because the populace is pretty shy and also pretty sure that what you’re really up to is the theft of their soul with that thing.
If you happen to get to La Paz during Carnivale you are in for a treat. EVERYBODY, especially the teen-agers, practice the “age-old custom” of spraying everyone in their vicinity with shaving cream. This is great fun. No. But, on the upside, you can purchase a plastic poncho on just about every street in town. But, also, those same clever vendors are selling the shave cream. A racket for sure, but strangely fun to partake in. Desto3 advice: when in La Paz, do as the Bolivians do.
