Bolivia: update 2
We had planned to attend a New Year's party that would last all night so we took it easy on the 31st. Michal's guide book had recommended an Indian place called Gopal for cheap vegetarian fare so we went there for lunch. While it was certainly cheap (at ~$2/meal), the quality of the food was pretty mediocre.
JenMarie and Michal wanted to see if they could find new shoes for the party so we went to a mall next. I was fascinated by the diverse and oftentimes strange mannequins on display there. In addition to a wide variety of ethnic looks and amusing poses, ome of them had half their heads sliced off at the top! We even saw a manniquin that resembled ET.
At the shoe store, whose owner spoke excellent English, JenMarie found not one but three pairs she liked and since the price tag said they each cost under a hundred bucks, we figured that with the 7:1 exchange rate this would be a steal at a mere $41 for 3 pairs of dress shoes. She paid for them with her credit card and even Michal bought a pair. On the way home, as we were vocalising astonishment at the low prices, JenMarie happened to glance at her receipt and was horrified to discover that the prices had been in US dollars.
Upon telling Daniel's family about this predicament, his mom Rosa revisited the store with the girls to return the shoes. Unlike stores in North America, however, stores in Bolivia don't let you return goods; you can only exchange them. But JenMarie could not afford the extra couple of hundred dollars she'd accidentally spent so they asked to return 3 of the 4 pairs. The store owner was initially reticient but when they threatened to dispute the charge with Visa, he capitulated.
Once they'd sorted things out, we all took naps to fortify ourselves for the long night ahead. We'd planned on leaving shortly after 9pm but Rosa got stuck in a long queue at the hair salon and we didn't acually make it out of the house until after 10:30. Fortunately, the party wasn't very far away and we got in with plenty of time to ring in the new decade, which involved throwing confetti on everybody around us and making a lot of noise.
Food was served in short order and an enormous queue formed to partake of it. But Daniel's cousins and I jumped the queue so I didn't actually have to wait that long. It was ironic that they suggested it, since they'd only recently returned from a four year stay in the UK, where queues are practically sacred. With the eating portion of the night out of they way, we then danced until morning. I didn't begin to feel sleepy until we were on our way back so the nap must have worked.
We woke up in the late afternoon to celebrate Rosa's birthday with a BBQ. Many more members of the extended family came over. They used lemons to clean the grill, which seems like a great idea and I plan on trying it the next time I need to clean mine. I also had a chance to eat a Bolivian tamale, which tastes nothing like the Mexican and Salvadorean ones I'm used to. I think it's my 2nd faourite Bolivian food after saltanas.
Saturday was a big day. We flew to La Paz in the morning, checked into our hostel, ate lunch and then wandered around buying trinkets for a bit before going on a private tour of the city. Our tour guide was awesome. First she took us to the Valley of the Moon, where decades of acid rain have eroded the rock to form a breathtaking terrain. At first I though it was named because people thought it looked like the moon but our guide informed us that the name actually predates the acid rain and was given to the area by the people who once lived there because they believed that the moon would protect them.
The next stop on our tour was a lookout point in the midst of the city, from which we could see the entirety of La Paz stretching out in every direction. We also visited the cathedral and parliament building before ending at a market where our guide explained to us the significance of some mystical props that were on sale there. Since we were in the market, we had dinner at an organic vegetarian restaurant to counteract all the meat we'd been consuming over the week.
Finally, I got a haircut before we retired to our hostel room for the night. Even though at 10 bs (~$1.42) it was the cheapest haircut I've ever had, it was also one of the best. In fact, the barber was so skilled with his razor that I got him to shave my beard too. Now I've had my hair cut on 4 contients.
In the morning we took a taxi to the airport to catch our 8:30 flight to Cusco and managed to get there with enough time to grab brekki and mail out postcards. No sooner had we boarded the plane, however, than we were required to disembark due to unexplained technical difficulties. We spent the next couple of hours sitting around in the secure area until they announced that the flight would be delayed by 5 hours and gave us coupons for a free meal.
