We woke up at 4:45 a.m. and each drank a huge cup of coca tea. Apparently that helps with the altitude sickness. We also took a bunch of sarrochi pills as well. At 5:30 a.m., the seven of us piled into a taxi and headed to the airport.
I was a bit nervous about flying to La Paz, the memories of last time still fresh in my mind....
We landed in El Alto, the world's highest airport, and already I was feeling a bit lightheaded. We caught a taxi to our hotel and settled into our room. Our room had a mural of the Tiwanaku ruins on it. How cool is that? We had a bit of breakfast on the top floor of the hotel and drank even more coca tea.
We spent most of the morning resting in our room before heading out for lunch. The streets totally reminded me of San Fransisco, CA; up and down and nothing flat. So even at sea level, it would have been quite the hike, so within 1 block, I was puffing and huffing and feeling light headed. I wondered, am I that out of shape? Or is it that my body is screaming because I'm so oxygen deprived here at 10,000 ft above sea level?!
We found a nice little restaurant for lunch and you could tell that the altitude sickness was effecting Kezia the most. She was almost lethargic at the table. After the meal, we walked through the Witches Market where we saw some very interesting things.
Eric and Michelle were excited about doing some touristy shopping, and I have to admit, I was too. There were a few things that were being sold that couldn't be found in Santa Cruz (don't worry folks, I didn't get any of you any dead llamas).
We ended up shopping for most of the afternoon, walking to the San Fransisco Church, and checking out the neat Coca Museum. We had a tasty supper at a neat pizza place, where most of the patrons were English speaking. It was definitely more touristy/backpacker-ish than Santa Cruz, that's for sure.
That night, Asha had an awful sleep = an awful sleep for her parents. She had a dry nose and every 45 minutes, sat up in bed and yelled, "I need a drink, ugh, my nose!". Needless to say, we were all a little tired the next morning as we headed on our next adventurous trek.
5 comments:
Love the colors in the Artisan market! Witches market..eeek scary!!
WOW 10000 feet above sea level ..yikers, sounds like a great adventure to share with friends!
Great pics!
:)
Another adventure! That's quite a high way up in the sky! Poor Asha with the no sleeping...that's so tough when you are so exhausted. I love how your pictures tell a story! happy travels!
wow!!! amazing photos...coca tea? is that like cocoa? chocolate tea? mmmm ;) xo
Cool! I just spent the afternoon reading up on llama fetuses, coca tea, and the witches market! I've also been thinking about altitude sickness - doesn't sound like fun. Hope you have a wonderful adventure with your friends!
Dried llama fetuses....wow.
LOL!
Ang
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