Saturday, February 27th - La Paz, Bolivia

This morning I was awake very early.  I think it was 4:30 but I stayed in bed for a while and then finally got up around 5:00 to do some blogging and upload some pictures.  At 7:00 I was just stepping out of the shower when I heard Gillian's voice and Randy's laugh so I knew that Gillian had arrived.  I quickly got dressed and went out to meet them as I heard them go by my door.  

Gillian had travelled with us on the Silk Road Tour and in Europe for the River Cruise in June and July.  She was supposed to be with us on the Southern African tour but her Mom got sick so Gillian had to cancel that trip.  Her Mom died in December so it has been a rough winter for her and we were so happy to hear that she was joining us again for the Bolivian trip.  

We went up for breakfast and spent a long time up there getting caught up on all the news.  Then we decided to get ready and go for a walk around the city as Gillian felt okay and said she was up to it.  I think she did a lot better today than we did yesterday!  We walked over to the San Francisco Church and plaza.  We took the tour through the museum which involved the church and the old monastery.  In fact there were several old monasteries as the first one was built back in the 16th century.  Others came after as the earlier ones were destroyed and then these were added to over the years.  I believe the current version is from the 18th century and the monks still use part of it as a monastery and the church is still active.  

We didn't get to tour the current monastery parts of course but we did see the cloisters, the column footings of the old buildings, some of the artifacts such as robes, chalices, crosses, etc.  We even went through the old winery area where the monks made not just wine but distilled spirits.  The tour went up to the roof area through some very narrow stone stairs and up to the bell tower.  It was interesting to see the whole complex and the surrounding area from that level.  The church itself is made of pale sandy coloured stones and the main entrance has many intricate carvings and statues.  The courtyards were all flanked by two storeys with arched balconies and the one courtyard has lots of fruit trees and medicinal plants.  The halls in the one area were a bright blue, supposedly the original colour of the time.  The floors and ceilings were tiles here but in other places they were wooden ceilings.  The outer roof tiles were red and were formed by placing the material over a man's leg to get the curve.  Different leg sizes led to different tiles but it all fit together.  There were lantern places up on the roof - three on each side and one in the middle.   From the top you could see the homes going up the sides of the hills in every direction but one and in that direction you have very high steep mountain peaks with no homes on the side.

From there we walked over to Plaza Murillo where you find a lovely open square surrounded by large impressive buildings.  The Cathedral is a newer but plainer looking building than the San Francisco Church but that is probably just hte style.  This one has few carvings on the front but does have columns and high arched windows and two towers, one on each side.  It too is made of a light stone and two tall storeys high plus another storey for the towers.  On the inside it has a long narrow nave leading to a very simple and bright altar area with a big window behind.  There are two additional aisles on each side of the central one so the church looks very wide.  The square columns are the same stone as the outside and lead to high arched ceiling that is a plain white and the floor below is a white tile so the whole church looks very bright and light.  In both churches there were services happening but there were very few people in attendance.  At the first church I thought it might be a private christening so only the family and friends were there.  At the second we wondered about a funeral as people were all dressed up, many in black, and the mood was pretty somber.

Also around the square are the National Museum of Art which is in a beautiful old building that used to be a colonial palace.  We didn't take the time to go inside.  The Government House and Legislative House, or Palaces as they call them, are also on the square.  They are very impressive buildings.  The one has stone on the ground floor and there were guards standing at the door.  The top two floors were a salmon pink colour with tall windows and white painted trim around the windows and the fake columns and decorations at the top.  The other is also three storeys high and more of a mustard yellow and white in colour and looks incredibly clean and beautiful as if it's just been painted.  It has four large columns at the front entrance where there are three high arched doorways, all below a higher clock tower.  There are other columns on the facade and they all look real as opposed to just painted decoration.  There are high arched windows on the two main floors and as this building is going up the hill, the bottom storey appears to diminish in size going in one direction.

Both of these buildings had three flags out front with the central one being the flag of Bolivia and the other two we didn't recognize.  I did hear a tour guide telling his group something about one of the flags being a flag that was put on the houses which were in support of the government and as the head of state travelled around he could stay at any of these houses and safely hold government meetings.  I guess we'll have to do the walking tour to get the real story.  There was a tall monument to peace in the centre of the square with a statue of Murilla at the top.  The monument seemed like a war memorial and had a book at the front with something written.  I am unsure of Murilla's role in the history of the city or the country and the exact meaning of the statue so I guess I'll need that tour guide again.

We continued walking and passed another old church, Santa Domingo, which was again in a light sandy brick, had carvings on the front entrance and a bell tower.    It did not appear to be open so I'm not sure it is still in use.  The street we turned down after that had neat two storey buildings with wood trim and small balconies around the windows/doors on the second floor.   They looked quite different than other buildings in the area.  We then walked down a few market streets, which were very interesting with all their wares, and just as it started raining we headed into one of the commercial centres.  It really poured after that so it was a good thing we went in.   We wasted some time there and then continued on our walk as the rain abated.  The buildings in La Paz are very colourful in pinks and blues.  Even the commercial centre which was on many floors all joined by ramps all the different vendor stalls were coloured in red, purple., orange, blue, yellow, etc.   Even the clothes they wear are the same bright colours.  I'm sure we look very drab in comparison.

I should mention that while we are walking we are climbing up and down hills all the time.  Some of them are very steep and some are more level but nothing seems to be really on the flat.   Sometimes they are just inclines but in many cases they are stairs.  The streets are paved or cobblestone and the sidewalks are cement slabs but often pieces are missing or not level so you really have to watch where you are walking.  As much as you would like to look at the scenery all the time, you really have to keep watching what you are walking on.  Of course this just means more stops more frequently so you can look at the surroundings and that's not a bad thing when you are struggling to catch your breath all the time.

We stopped for a quick lunch somewhere around the Plaza Murilla and then coffee later on and were back to the hotel by 3:30 for a well-deserved rest, certainly well deserved by Gillian who had been flying for 24 hours before arriving this morning, and had been on the go ever since.  I don't think she's going to have any problem with the high altitude sickness.  Randy is walking a lot faster today so I think he is basically acclimatized.  I'm still struggling for breath at times but it's nothing panicky.  I just feel like I'm out of shape, which of course I am.

At  6:30 we headed out for dinner.  Some Israelis we met earlier suggested a good steak restaurant so that's where we went.  We wandered down even more neat streets and alleys and climbed down a lot of stairs and finally decided that we must have missed it.  Sure enough it was back up the stairs but at least not too far.  And the walk was definitely well worth it as the food was great.  I just had a steak fired in Jack Daniels and it was cooked perfectly, very tender and very tasty.  The other two decided to share a platter and they had steak, chicken wings, pork ribs, hamburger, llama and probably something else I've forgotten.  They made a great stab at it but didn't finish it all as it was a lot of food.  And of course we also had the salad bar and potatoes with our meal so not just the meat.  We definitely needed to climb more stairs and walk back to the hotel to try and wear that meal off.  Once back at the hotel we each retired to our room to enjoy our last night of separate rooms before starting to share on the tour tomorrow.  And it doesn't look like any of us are sharing together so we'll all have new roommates if the current room bookings hold.