281218: Teleferico

We have been trying to sort out a driver to take us up to Parque Nacional Sajama to see the volcanoes and wildlife, but it seems most of the tour operators shut over Christmas and New Year which is strange as a few folk from the Northern hemisphere will be holidaying at this time.  It looks as if we might have found a driver but it hasn't been confirmed yet.

As we said one of Evo Morales' big projects for La Paz is a mass transportation system based on cable cars.  You can read about it here:

www.lapazlife.com/the-worlds-highest-cable-car-ride/

Despite this article's claim that the highest cable car in the world is in La Paz, the highest is in fact in Venezuela and rises up Espejo Peal at 4,756 metres.

Nevertheless, the system in La Paz is not a tourist attraction like many cable cars.  The red line rises up from the old railway station to El Alto. It costs 3 Bolvianos per journey. There is one stop at the city's cemetery which is like a town in itself.

We, of course took a picture of Santa and Rudolph for Ava and Erin.  We were joined in the cab by a young lad who seemed highly entertained by Joan's fear of heights.  He told us the last bit was the steepest and it was vertiginously so.

At the top there was a mirador of the city in all its craziness. Another cable car heads out towards the airport and a new cable car is under construction which will eventually create a kind aerial of circuit of the city.

El Alto is where a lot of the Aymaran people have come to live and find work.  Unlike La Paz it is flat as it is on the altiplano.

The place is heaving with minibuses looking for business.

Like Oruro a lot of people wear traditional dress.  The women often have very long hair which they plait into two pigtails.  These are then joined together, usually at the bottom of their backs and are extended with woollen locks.

By the station there is a line of booths, about the size of a beach hut, with blue painted doors.  Outside braziers are often burning.  These are the booths of the "yatiris" who are wise people that are consulted on a whole range of issues.  The guidebook says that they are taken very seriously and to be respectful near them.  Here is an article about them:

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/bolivia/articles/yatiris-bolivian-fortune-tellers/

The area around the cable car station was very busy.  There were lots of stalls selling food and drink.  A plate of chicken with rice and chips costs around 80p and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice or pressed carrot juice costs 24 pence.  There are no plastic or polystyrene boxes here.  The food is eaten by the stall, sat on a plastic hair and either eaten with a spoon from a ceramic bowl or with the fingers.

Back at the cable car there were posters of President Morales, telling how much investment was being made on the cable car system.

There were also yet more posters claiming Bolivia's right to access to the sea.

Back down in La Paz we tried to photo the solar panels that the cable cars partially runs on. The cable cars are referred to as the "flying gondulas" by the locals.

The streets were packed as usual and we found our way through the stalls and sellers.

Outside San Fransisco's church,  a crowd had gathered to watch some entertainers.  We stayed a while but had no idea what was going on.

There is a statue of Christopher Columbus on El Prado.  We noticed his name is spelt differently than in Chile.  Upon investigation there are multiple versions of his name:

http://columbus.vanderkrogt.net/texts/different_names_of_Columbus.html

This is a skyscraper near our apartment.

For dinner we went to a French restaurant nearby called Chez Moustache.  Joan asked for a Kir Royale which was on the menu, but predictably they had none! So Joan settled for a gin and tonic - her first since leaving the UK. We had deep fried Camenbert and an undressed salad!!  Then that traditional French meal- ravioli.  We were served in a mix of French and Spanish.  There we lots of pictures of Salvador Dali and his crazy moustache as well as other bristly gents.

As a luxury we had brandies over steaming tea cups.

After dinner we bought some pastries - pain au chocolat and pain aux raisons - from their bakery.  It might have been the brandies that loosened our tongues (well, mainly Joan's tongue) but we had a prolonged conversation with the lasses selling the pastries about England and its beauty.

When we left even the manager came to cheerily wave us off.