Ana_Last Days in Bolivia

Going to back to La Paz from Rurrenabaque was a bit choking. From hot tropical to cold and high altitude. It sucked! I felt the altitude as soon as we landed in La Paz. It wasn´t as bad as the first days but I felt it for sure.

We went back to the same hostal. The taxi driver took us the long way becuase there was a protest and they blocked the main highway. Apperantely Bolivians protest a lot especially in La Paz. This time the fishermen of the nearby lake Titicaca were protesting since they were not selling many fish and there was rumor that the fish was contaminated. They claimed it was not true. So they were very upset!
The protest crossed the Peruvian border and they were going to block the main road to Puno which was the same road to Cusco. So we had to stay an extra day in La Paz.

Good thing we had cable TV in our room. It was luxury for us. Very nice to just watch TV for hours. There wasn´t much left to see in La Paz. It´s big city but after few days you had enough. Especially walking, every step you huff and puff like crazy.

We did go to the Coca Museum. Pretty interesting stuff. Bolivians are very religious with the coca leaves. But of course has caused a big contraversy especially with the US over the years. Becuase with the coca leaves you can make cocaine. But from start to finish is a long process. You have to mix it in with a bunch of chemicals to have the end product. Bolivians don´t agree with the use of cocaine, but are sacriligious about the use of coca leaves. It goes back to the Inka times. It was use in ceremonial rituals and for medicine. The main effect of just the coca leaves is to supress apetite and gives you energy. It´s kinda like coffee. I had some coca leaves but didn´t feel much. Plus you have stuff your mouth with the coca leaves and leave it there for hours. I didn´t last very long with it my mouth. The leaves are kinda of bitter. To my suprise Coca Cola has extracts from the coca leaf. And medicine like of novacaine uses it as well.

After that we didn´t do much other than kill time by walking around the nearby markets.

Ana