Bienvedidos a La Paz!

We are now in La Paz, after an incredible bus ride over the Altiplano. The Altiplano is a magnificent desert land about 4000m above sea level.

Our manic bus driver manouvred the bus out of the bustling Santa Cruz streets. At intersections poor street vendors banged on the doors of the bus demanding to be let on. They came on board and tried to sell us everything from raffle tickets to dried bread and cold lime.

A few hours later a young man came aboard to play his Bolivian pipe instrument. Our bus driver let beggars and hitch hikers on board, I was blown away by his compassion, even if his driving skills left much to be desired!

Words cannot describe La Paz. The city truly defies gravity - Crumbling brick shacks cling precipitously to the side of cliffs, encased by subliminal mountain ranges.

La Paz lies at 3700m abover sea level, and we have already had our dose of altitude sickness. At first it felt like a telephone book was pressing against my chest. Then it felt like a toddler was jumping on my rib cage. My muscles turned to jelly and walking up a few flights of stairs makes me incredibly out of breath. Then came the dizziness, nausea and headaches.

I´ve just woken up from a delectable slumber and am feeling pretty good - no more headaches and nausea. We´re all going to take it easy at this altitude.

Our accommodation is right opposite the `witches market` where you can buy everything from baby llama skeletons to coca leaves, coca lollies and velvety smooth alpaca wool jerseys.

La Paz is undeniably one of the most breath taking cities in the world. Literally. I get the feeling that La Paz is one of Bolivia's treasured gems, there is barely a scrap of rubbish to be seen, street sweepers clean the streets at every corner and the inner city gardens and parks are kept immaculate.

The city is peppered with guards in green military uniforms carrying hefty machine guns and people in zebra costumes directing traffic. Apparently the zebra approach works a treat for the city council...The zebras do a little dance and shimmy to show the direction for the cars to go.

Bolivia also has the BEST juices you have ever tasted. You can get anything from apricot, guava or mango juice and it tastes like you have just picked a ripe fruit from tree.

La Paz has many western amenities, i.e Burger King, pepsi.....but it does sell countless coca products which help with altitude sickness. 'Mama Coca' is a store up the road which sells coca tea, tablets, leaves...But the shop seems to be barred up most of the time.

The temperature here is mild, which surprises me considering the high altitude. Get chatting to a Bolivian and you will discover they have an amazing life story. A man at Santa Cruz bus station yarned to me about his days working in the Oruro mines. All the work was done manually for 1000km.

I am left in no doubt that Bolivia is a humanist, socialist nation. Evo Morales won 64.2% of the national vote in the 2009 election, leader of the Movement for Socialism Party. Everyone seems to have a smile on their face, everyone is eager to help with my stilted Spanish. The Aymara native women work incredibly hard for their families, I often see them lugging babies, knitting and groceries up steep hills.

Despite the lack of wealth in this city, every person I have seen is dressed immaculately. Bolivians must be very proud of their appearance. There is a noticeable divide between rich and poor, but every Bolivian I have seen resiliently gets through each day and works damn hard to put food on the table.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Inca ruins of Tiwananuku.

Adios,

Brittany