311218: Concerning the colour of underwear

So today was a very quiet day.  There was blogging to catch up on and not much else.  The Bolivians take New Year very seriously and we were warned that shops would shut down early.

We have already had one laundry disaster to date with Joan's dissolving dress.  A couple of days ago we went to collect some more laundry but were told it wouldn't be ready until Monday.  This morning it wasn't ready again so we began to fear the worst. Come back in a couple of hours or so, we were told.

We did a bit of shopping to ensure we had food for the next couple of days.  One thing that perplexed us were the New Year's Eve celebration items.  Amongst paper hats, 2019 spectacles, whistles and party poppers, we notice bright red and yellow bras.

We passed a lingerie shop with similar coloured items on display and then a street stall with both womens' and mens' wear. .  We took a surreptitious snap!

Further investigation on the internet revealed that in Latin American people wear different colour underwear on New Year's Eve to bring them luck.  Red is for love and gold for riches.

Here's an article about other Bolivian traditions:

http://www.boliviabella.com/new-years.html

We thought we would go out for lunch and sought out the Comedy café which is close by and highly recommended on TripAdvisor.  It is meant to do a wicked cheese board with wine.  It was shut. A quick walk round the neighbourhood revealed that virtually all the restaurants were closed for the holiday season or had not opened today.  We were reduced to looking at dodgy construction techniques.

The German inspired Kuchen Stube was the only place open and was packed.  We ordered cheese pancakes from the menu and were told there were only sweet ones with honey!!

Outside the rain was bouncing down in the streets, so we took our time.  So did they!

Then with trepidation we returned t the laundry where the washng was finally returned.

Afternoons in La Paz  are now rainy so with few places open to go, we retreated to our apartment to read and catch up on the blog.  The later it got, the quieter the streets.

We had an early dinner of food that was leftover as we are moving on soon and can not take it with us.  We've been rubbish at staying up late on this holiday so we went to bed early and set the alarm for just before midnight.

Where we are staying is in a bowl surrounded by mountains.  Come midnight, when the fireworks went up, the sound was deafening, echoing off the hillsides.  Up above in the highest parts of the city fireworks whizzed and banged for a good half hour.  A little fizz was drunk to celebrate the New Year and then it was back to sleep.