Day 227: Walk Slowly.... (12/09/2011)

The road into La Paz is deceiving.

A flat, congested dual carriageway formed as the tundra gave way to the city limits, without a hint as to what was to follow. Darkness was falling and the lights of the roadside kiosks twinkled as we passed. Suddenly we crested a rise and La Paz opened out before us like a hidden world.

The city of nearly 2 million clings limpet-like to the steep sides of a valley. The poorly built, bare brick houses cascade down the hill sides and the larger office blocks and colonial buildings pool in the valley floor.

It was dark when we arrived but a full moon lit the cloudless sky and bathed the amazing scene in a weak light. The whole valley was alive with pin pricks of light, like a constellation of stars had laid itself across the contours of the land.

We all snapped in vain to catch the night-time spectacle but the darkness and the rattling truck left us with nothing but smeary shots of the road side barrier.

Instead, after we had wound down the road into the city, we dumped our possessions in room 505 at the Hotel Estrella Andina before heading down the steep, cobbled Calle Sagarnaga to Sol y Luna for a Dutch dinner that Leon, Vanessa and Bert translated.

The walk down was a carefree jaunt.

On the way back, the thin air at 3,600m left us gasping in doorways, reminding us of the Bolivian words of wisdom issued to all new arrivals.

Walk slowly, eat little and sleep by your poor little self.