Santiago

Getting out of La Paz proved a challenge as there was yet another demonstration and road block on the main road to the airport; this time it was medical students but I don't recall their grievances.  Their protest was quite dramatic though, in that some people where tied to make shift crosses to highlight their cause.  

But what the zebras were about I don't know.

The flight from La Paz was amazing

El Alto

The Andes

Rock formations in the foothills of the Andes

Then the Atacama Desert

There has been a long running land dispute between Chile and Bolivia since 1879 when the former stole a chunk of land which had provided Bolivia with access to the Pacific Ocean.  I'm not sure if it was because of ongoing diplomatic tensions but instead of crossing from Bolivia directly into Chile, we went via Peru.  The border post between Chile and Peru, shortly after which we stopped at Arica Airport to clear immigration although Derek did all the formalities for us, so we didn't even leave the plane.

But I can honestly say it was one flight too far - we got stuck in traffic from the airport to hotel so it was gone 8pm before we arrived on Friday having travelled most of the day.  

Chile lived up to its name as it certainly was chilly, they had snow on the mountains which is apparently very unusual so early in their autumn.  We had a city tour Saturday morning which included 

Changing of the guard at the President's Palace.

Then to a local fish market 

These rather unappetising Picorocos are giant barnacles

Logically, my brain knows these are fish - but at the same time it can't help thinking I've seen them on Doctor Who.

These pedestrian traffic lights fascinated me, they count down for how long is left to safely cross and the closer it gets to the lights changing the faster the little person goes - what a good idea.

This statue in the Plaza de Armas is a monument to the indigenous people.

Finally we went up a funicular to the top of  Cerro (hill) San Cristobal

To see the statue at the top of the Virgin Mary.

Where the devotees lit their candles and left prayer requests.

But as yet I can't find any reference to this statue of a young girl.

We were also hoping for good views of the city and the mountains but unfortunately there was too much smog.

As a group we went back to the fish market for lunch.

Ian and I had a simple grilled sea bass and chips but people on the next table had king crab.

And Paul had giant mussels.

We took the metro back to our hotel, had a couple of hours shut eye to try and recover a bit and then went out again to dinner.  Both of us are sitting on colds so the 5am alarm call was particularly unwelcome!!!

Well we're back at the airport ready to leave Chile, blink and you'd miss it!!   Looking forward to Bueños Aires.

La Paz 2

La Paz is an incredible place; full of people both just hanging around and also dashing about and of course the whole city is dominated by the surrounding mountains.

We had a couple of hours free this morning, so had another wander around.

On the wall of one street was this green cross along with a plaque giving this explanation:

"Tradition tells that in colonial times, the Cabra Cancha alley was a dark place due to the constant appearance of supernatural beings and phenomena (ghosts, goblins, souls in pain, infernal noises of carriages pulled by knights and chains dragged on the ground) but above all, it highlighted the presence of a condemned widow who seduced all the men who gathered drunk late at night to take them on a mysterious adventure.  So the residents of this street, heirs of a deep-rooted Catholic faith, decided to place the "green cross "to scare away all these evil creatures that frightened them."

These chaps are guarding the remains of Andres de Santa Cruz (1792-1865) but I'm not sure why this particular former president is still so revered.

As is the same the world over, the younger generations have adopted a more "Western" dress but the older indigenous women still wear the distinctive bowler hat.  We learnt today that this was because a Spaniard bought a consignment of hats that were meant for small boys and as there were no small Spanish boys in Bolivia at that time, rather than lose money he convinced the local women that they were the height of fashion in Spain and offered them a two for one deal.  The idea quickly spread and to this day a lot of women still wear them, but unfortunately most of them are reluctant to be photographed so mostly I have back views!

However for a small fee some will agree!

I knew my head was large, but this is ridiculous!

As the street scenes show, the ladies love brightly coloured fabrics.

We then visited Moon Valley which is a short 10kms ride out of town.  The formations in the canyon are composed mainly of clay and sandstone and created by the persistent erosion of mountains by the area’s strong winds and rains.  They say faces can be seen in certain places but the "Old Gentlemen" signposted from last year has definitely disappeared now.

Back to the city and a visit to the Witches Market where you can buy loads of herbs for health remedies plus stone icons etc. to bring good luck and to appease the gods.  

They also have a tradition of burying a llama foetus in the foundations of any new building and these are available in many sizes.  We didn't realise that the larger ones weren't soft toys for quite a long time.

It does seem a shame as they look so sweet.

Sadly our time in Bolivia has run out, dinner tonight on the 15th floor watching the lights of the town and then off to Chile tomorrow morning.

I think the next two cities will be very much more "international" but still we are looking forward to them.