La Paz

From Cusco I got the overnight bus(es) (and boat over Lake Titikaka) straight through to La Paz. We stopped in Copacabana on the edge of Titikaka for lunch and it seemed like a hellhole to me, absolutely nothing good about it - just a place where tourists stop off for lunch or on their way to an island on the lake.

Anyway, La Paz was impressive on the way in to the city, as you can see the entire city all in a valley in the mountains as you drive in. Its really obvious how much poorer it is than Lima and Cusco, as there are more people begging on the streets (in Lima and Cusco I found that rather than beg, people would find something to sell, like penny sweets, postcards, polishing shoes, just get on a bus and sing for money etc, but in La Paz there are more people just holding out cups/hats, which is sad but also bloody annoying, when they start tapping on the window for three hours when you´re in a cafe having lunch, asking for money. I know that the kids in Cusco were forced by their families to go out selling finger puppets/cigarettes/chewing gum etc, and they had to sell everything they had before they were allowed home at night, or before they were allowed to eat - its kind of difficult to get your head round - is it good that at least they´re not getting something for nothing by selling stuff, or should you refuse to buy anything, because then their parents might not send them out anymore if no one buys anything from them?), and parts of the city - like where I´m staying, are pretty grubby. However, I have discovered nicer bits.

Also, for my first few days, I felt much more worried about my safety etc in La Paz: we met this guy who had his pocket picked in the market, and I had also managed to lose/have stolen my cashcard just before leaving Cusco, and $300 taken out, which pissed me off, and the bank (HSBC) were useless at helping me out - refusing to send my new card to a safe address here, and making me spend hours on the phone listening to musak - just bloody cancel the card!!! It didn´t help that I was blubbering my eyes out I suppose, but they didn´t have any sense of urgency or sympathy. Anyway. After the first few days, and, I realised, after the new year holidays had finished (I forgot about them as every day is a holiday to me), I realised that the town isn´t that bad, as shops don´t always close at 3pm, and also, it doesn´t ALWAYS rain (although it does rain pretty much every day), the sun does sometimes come out - its out now for example... etc. Also, importantly, we discovered the nice end of town, and, even more significantly, they have a huge cool multicoloured icecream parlour there, where you can eat every E number under the sun - and some! - in the form of banana splits, pineapple splits, papaya splits, cherry derries, merry berries, uva exceptional, and manzana, for example. Very nice.

Have started Spanish lessons, doing 4 hours a day for a week, and we get homework too. They´re going well. Mi gusta! Quiero me ducho pero el baño esta occupado! Hablo español muy bien! Este blog es muy dificil a comprender! Estas son mis mochilas! I could go on, but its probably pointless. When I can say something useful, I will let you know. The good thing is they don´t bother using vosotros (plural form of "you") here, so there´s less to learn! They also use verbs for ´to be´, estar and ser, more sensibly than they do in Spain, so its a bit easier.

We visited a place just outside the city called Valle de la luna, as it looks a bit like a lunar landscape, I guess. It was quite eerie, and I saw a huge spider in its little home in the ground.