Some quality sister time was much needed after four months of separation! Jessalyn's trip was cut short due to a flight cancellation, but she was still able to come down for a week. We had so much fun relaxing, exploring, and experiencing new things together.
We had originally planned a trip to the city of La Paz and then on to the town of Copacabana to see Lake Titicaca, but because of the delay in Jessalyn’s trip we had to change our plans. We settled on a day trip to the city to sight see.
The city of La Paz has over 2 million people, plus the 0.6 million people living in El Alto (a town up in the mountains overlooking La Paz). La Paz is over 3500 meters above sea level, and El Alto is even taller at over 4000 meters. It also holds the record for having the highest commercial airport. You can definitely feel the extreme change of altitude when you start walking. We had to sit down every little bit because you get short of breath and develop a headache. Thankfully, neither one of us developed altitude sickness.
La Paz has three lines of cable cars (the green line, the red line, and the yellow line) connecting El Alto to the lower parts of La Paz. Many people think of the cable cars as a tourist attraction, but 1.2 million people living in La Paz and El Alto use the cable cars as a means of transportation across the mountainous terrain. Jessalyn and I were able to take a guided tour of all three lines. It was a really neat experience to be above all of the houses and to look out at the beautiful snow-capped Andes Mountains. While on our tour, we learned several neat facts about La Paz.
Bolivia has two capitals, La Paz and Sucre. Sucre is the official capital, but the government is housed and meets in La Paz. Apparently, there has been talk about choosing a new city in between La Paz and Sucre or making just one city the capital, but there is much disapproval from the people.
We were told by our tour guide that about 98% of people living in La Paz and El Alto are Catholic, but they are also very superstitious. Up in El Alto, there is a Catholic church on one side of the road, while witch offices line the other side of the road. Just to be on the safe side, many of the people will go to Mass and then cross the road to have a witch perform a ceremony for whatever the reason. The people also believe that when they get scared that their souls leave their bodies. If they don’t call their souls back, then it wanders and the person is susceptible to getting sick.
The superstitions continue as we wandered through the Witches’ Market in the center of town. We saw all sorts of things including Incan carvings, herbs, soap carvings, coca leaves, and dried baby llama fetuses. The llama fetuses are placed in the foundations of a new house to provide protection for the family.
In order to become a witch, you have to be struck by lightning and live to tell about it. A female witch can pass her abilities on to her oldest daughter, but a male witch must be struck with lightning. When a person wants to visit a witch, they don’t have a distinct person who they go see, but rather let their soul guide them to the right witch.
Even though we only had one day in La Paz, Jessalyn and I were both very glad we ventured out of Santa Cruz. The snow-capped mountains were a beautiful change in scenery and the culture of the city was very different from that of Santa Cruz. This is hopefully just the first adventure outside of Santa Cruz before I head home in June!
The city of La Paz has over 2 million people, plus the 0.6 million people living in El Alto (a town up in the mountains overlooking La Paz). La Paz is over 3500 meters above sea level, and El Alto is even taller at over 4000 meters. It also holds the record for having the highest commercial airport. You can definitely feel the extreme change of altitude when you start walking. We had to sit down every little bit because you get short of breath and develop a headache. Thankfully, neither one of us developed altitude sickness.
La Paz has three lines of cable cars (the green line, the red line, and the yellow line) connecting El Alto to the lower parts of La Paz. Many people think of the cable cars as a tourist attraction, but 1.2 million people living in La Paz and El Alto use the cable cars as a means of transportation across the mountainous terrain. Jessalyn and I were able to take a guided tour of all three lines. It was a really neat experience to be above all of the houses and to look out at the beautiful snow-capped Andes Mountains. While on our tour, we learned several neat facts about La Paz.
Bolivia has two capitals, La Paz and Sucre. Sucre is the official capital, but the government is housed and meets in La Paz. Apparently, there has been talk about choosing a new city in between La Paz and Sucre or making just one city the capital, but there is much disapproval from the people.
We were told by our tour guide that about 98% of people living in La Paz and El Alto are Catholic, but they are also very superstitious. Up in El Alto, there is a Catholic church on one side of the road, while witch offices line the other side of the road. Just to be on the safe side, many of the people will go to Mass and then cross the road to have a witch perform a ceremony for whatever the reason. The people also believe that when they get scared that their souls leave their bodies. If they don’t call their souls back, then it wanders and the person is susceptible to getting sick.
The superstitions continue as we wandered through the Witches’ Market in the center of town. We saw all sorts of things including Incan carvings, herbs, soap carvings, coca leaves, and dried baby llama fetuses. The llama fetuses are placed in the foundations of a new house to provide protection for the family.
In order to become a witch, you have to be struck by lightning and live to tell about it. A female witch can pass her abilities on to her oldest daughter, but a male witch must be struck with lightning. When a person wants to visit a witch, they don’t have a distinct person who they go see, but rather let their soul guide them to the right witch.
Even though we only had one day in La Paz, Jessalyn and I were both very glad we ventured out of Santa Cruz. The snow-capped mountains were a beautiful change in scenery and the culture of the city was very different from that of Santa Cruz. This is hopefully just the first adventure outside of Santa Cruz before I head home in June!
A trip to Santa Cruz wouldn't have been complete if we hadn't gone to the Plaza Principal to do some shopping and sight seeing. We had so much fun the first time that we had to go a second time before Jessalyn had to return home. The Christmas lights were still up too, which was an added bonus!
What would quality sister time be without some time spent in the kitchen?! After going to the fruit and vegetable market, we had a variety of resources to make some awesome food. We enjoyed making homemade tortillas and salsa to go along with our chicken fajitas one night.
Jess and I were also able to go to the mall with some friends from church. Once we arrived and walked up to the third floor where the food court and movie theater are located, the guys convinced us to go see a movie...in Spanish! We didn't understand all of the jokes, but we had a lot of fun!
Some of our other random adventures included walking on the overpass bridge to get to the Kilometer 6 fruit and vegetable market, eating (lots) of salteñas, and trudging through the mud to get home from school. (That's what happens when someone forgets her boots back home!) We also were able to get manicures and pedicures one afternoon, the best part being that it only cost $11!
I loved having my sister come down to visit and to share this experience with me! It was difficult to say goodbye, but it was a cool way to celebrate my halfway mark of my time here in Bolivia. I have been exposed to so many different things in the five months that I have lived in Santa Cruz, and I can't wait to see what awesome adventures lie ahead. Here's to the next five months!