Wanderings in Copacabana & La Paz

Copacabana, Bolivia

After our lovely little island getaway to Isla del Sol, Mac & I spent one more day in Copacabana before heading onwards to La Paz. The tiny little town of Copacabana is a popular spot for a jumping off point for Lake Titicaca tours. It’s chalk FULL of hostels, hotels, cafes, & restaurants. But most importantly, pizzerias! These Bolivians sure know how to reign in the tourists – PIZZA! What was also pleasantly surprising was the number of restaurants offering vegetarian dishes. It was a huge buzzword (again, they sure know how to cater to tourists!), but I was happy nonetheless.

Aside from the hoards of hostels & restaurants, one thing this town was lacking was clouds! Seriously, it seemed like every day that we were there had picture-perfect blue skies from dawn ‘till dusk. The sky sure made for a great backdrop of the giant cathedral in the centre of town.

After our return from Isla del Sol, I hunkered down in our hostel room for a relaxing afternoon while Mac went on a hike to the nearby hills that overlook Copacabana. Cerro Calvario is located fairly close to town and provides excellent vistas of the beach, lake, & city below. I hope you enjoy these pictures that he took!:

La Paz, Bolivia

From Copacabana, we boarded a bus to the busy city of La Paz. Contrary to popular belief, La Paz is actually not the capital of Bolivia (that title belongs to Sucre) but the location of the country’s seat of government. It’s situated at 3600m (~12,000ft) above sea level – higher than the heart-pounding streets of Cusco. While Cusco was thankfully quite flat with few hills, La Paz is quite the opposite. It seems that we walk uphill more often than downhill. After a solid 2 weeks in the city, I had barely achieved the ability to climb the stairs in our hostel without gasping for breath!

Mac & I arrived in the city with no real plan of action. After checking in at our hostel, we couldn’t help but notice the abundance of signs looking for volunteers to work at the hostel’s bar.

We inquired with the manager and were quickly offered bartending jobs for 2 weeks! Seriously, our “interview” went something like this:

Hostel: “Where are you from?”

Mac & Tracey: “Canada”

H: “Ok, you can start tomorrow. Oh, do you have any experience working in a bar?”

M&T: “Absolutely none whatsoever.”

H: “Ok, we’ll put you in the afternoon shift then. It’s not usually very busy….”

I wish all job interviews were that easy! Our shifts were either 1pm-7pm or 7pm-1am which meant that when I worked the afternoon & Mac worked the evening, we only had the mornings to go out and explore. (Thankfully we started being scheduled together for the night shifts and were therefore able to have a full free day of exploring before starting work at 7pm).

One such morning while Mac was watching a replay of the NBA Finals (such a dedicated fan), I headed downtown to join a walking tour. Red Cap walking tour charges a small fee of 20Bs (~$3USD) for a 2.5km, almost 3 hour tour of the city. We visited markets (both food & handicrafts), as well as other important buildings in the city.

The handicraft markets featured (in abundance!) the same Andean fabrics I had grown to love seeing in Lima & Cusco. I even continued with my shopping spree and bought a much needed toque & gloves. In addition to being 3600m above sea level, La Paz is quite cold a night!… and in the shade during the day – I had been wanting gloves & a hat since we arrived in the city! The food markets featured every type of fruit or vegetable you could want! The unique Witches Market offers pills/powders/potions for any sort of remedy you could dream of! Love potions, revenge pills.. anything goes! 

The tour ventured to the important Plaza Murillo where we learned about Bolivia’s troubled past. It’s now in the beginnings of an upswing which was encouraging to hear. This new idea is being projected onto buildings as well. If you look closely at the clock on the building in the picture below, you’ll notice the numbers on the clock face are backwards. This is a reflection of how time used to be told: via sun dial. On a sundial, the time goes counter-clockwise & the backwards numbers on the clock face are an homage to the olden times.

If you’re in La Paz, I’d really recommend attending this walking tour. I learned SO much information not only about La Paz, but also about the country. We were also taken to places I probably otherwise wouldn’t have ventured.

Stay tuned for Part II of our La Paz stay!