La Paz, Bolivia

Jennifer

We flew from Ushuaia to La Paz on October 16^th at 8:25pm and arrived in La Paz at 2:30. It sounds simple doesn’t it? In truth, this got quite complicated since we had to find a hotel for our overnight in Buenos Aires, plus getting in at 11:45pm at Jorge Newbery Airpark, and having to catch our next flight at 9:10am out of Ministro Pistarini International the next day. We caught a taxi for both transfers and the total came out to around AR$130 (US$32.06). We were exhausted from all the running around, but we kind of splurged on the hotel so felt pretty relaxed. After another transfer in Santa Cruz and a two hour layover there, we finally arrived in La Paz at 2:30pm. At the airport we grabbed our bags and headed to the rental car area where we picked up our 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe which was 540.54 Bolivianos (US$77) a day. We decided to brave the roads for the freedom it afforded us to get outside the city.  We had all kinds of adventures while driving around this week. Everyone took a turn at it and was able to enjoy avoiding potholes and crazy motorcyclist. In the city we tried to walk whenever we could, just to truly experience the incredibly steep streets and light headedness that comes from the high altitude in the world’s highest capitol city. The fact that the streets are incredibly slippery only adds interest and entertainment. Especially the first time I hit the ground.

5 Plane tickets: AR$9869.16 (US$2487.50)

                     Each: AR$1973.83 (US$497.50)

Taxi: AR$130 (US$32.06)

Car Rental: 540.54 Bolivian Boliviano ($77) a day = 3783.78 Bolivian Boliviano ($539)

Gas: Holds 26 Gallons of gas = 98.54 liters

         Gas Prices: 4.21 Bolivianos ($0.60) per litre

         Every fill up: 415.02 Bolivianos ($59.12) and filled up twice = 830.40 Bolivianos ($118.24)

Our Tahoe at the Airport

Another backup

Dino

Accomodations

Hotel: Residencial Rosario

Address: Illampu 704, La Paz 12446, Bolivia

Hotel Rosario is an excellent hotel with a staff that knows what they're doing! The rooms are nice (don't let the seemingly shoddy room doors put you off though, it's safe), the restaurant/breakfast is good and the free internet, either in the "Ayni" lounge or upstairs in the cafe, is a welcome treat.

The location is perfect- a couple of minutes by foot, and you're in the Witches' Market, on the Plaza San Francisco, the Prado or Plaza Murillo.

Erin 

Plaza San Francisco and the Witches Market:

We visited this bustling city square, the center of which is of course the Church of San Francisco. We walked through the plaza on Sunday afternoon, shortly after arriving in the ciry. We got to watch part of a wedding ceremony at the church, a common occurrence on Sundays in the square. Interestingly enough, everywhere there were shoe shiners wearing ski masks, offering to shine our shoes. We browsed and shopped through the numerous stalls and vendors and got to experience a little of the colonial religious architecture of the city.

We were told by hotel personnel to visit another attraction, the popular Mercado de los Brujos, or the Witches Market. There they sell a variety of goods, including armadillo, owl feathers, dried frogs and several kinds of cacti. The most popular item at the market, however, are dried llama fetuses, selling for about 1.50 USD. As odd as this sounds, the market is a popular tourist attraction, and we decided to visit. Among the many different odd items for sale were many things worth buying—they had many different kinds of candy and lots of silver jewelry. Overall we spent about $75 US dollars at the market.

Yungas Road: The “Road of Death”:

An hour outside of La Paz in the La Cumbre area is one of the more popular destinations for adventurers vacationing to the city. We went on the four hour long mountain bike ride tour down Yungas Road, affectionately known as the Road of Death. The road begins at an elevation of 15,400 ft. above sea level and ends at 5,003 ft. above sea level, descending about two miles down in the course of the trip.

The company we took our tour with is called Gravity Assisted Tours, and the trip was definitely the most adventurous moment of our entire travel experience. The unpaved road has sheer cliff-like mountainsides on either edge and is unpaved with no guard rail. If you can brave it though, the views of the mountains and the valleys surrounding them are just spectacular. 

Nathaniel

Attractions

Museo Nacional de Arte

Address: Comercio y Socabaya La Paz 1190 Bolivia

We had the opportunity to go to the Museum of Art in La Paz.  It was interesting to see the museum and compare some of the art to what have seen in art museums in some of the other places we have visited.  Everyone found that some of the most interesting things in the museum were not so much the paintings but the sculptures.  We found the style of the building really cool, as it was built in 1770’s style architecture.  The only down part to the museum was the crowds of people.  The place was so crowded our group did not really get a chance to get some good time to ourselves.  Another disadvantage to the museum was the distance it was to the hotel.  It took us 28 minutes to drive there, but overall it was well worth it.

Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking

Address: Av. 16 de Julio #1490, Edificio Avenida Planta Baja, Oficina #10 La Paz 

Our group decided to do a recreational activity as we took a mountain biking trip.  We were very impressed with the whole activity.  The tour guides were so accommodating. They gave us heads up on every part of the trip and showed us how to go about using the bikes.  We were also excited about the mountain bikes that we rented.  They were really high quality with smooth gears and excellent tires.  The overall cost was $381.40, which was not bad for a full day of entertainment.  We did have a mishap when Nathaniel had a spill while cruising down one of the steep hills. Once again the tour guide was able to bandage him up and we were back on our way again with very little repercussions.                                      

Total Price: $5.50 * 5= 27.50+$381.40= $408.90

Our group decided to rent a car for the week, to make transportation less of a hassle.  We rented a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe for $77 a day.  We really enjoyed the freedom of having a car instead of relying on a taxi or the bus.

John

Budget

Car + Gas = $657.24

Air Travel = $2487.50

Attractions = $408.90

Misc = $75.00