Day 8: La Paz, Bolivia

regarding the hallucinogenic cactus, i became very dizzy and not much else, though i started to find the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air dubbed in spanish highly emotional. after an hour i got bored and ate some M&M´s. watched some Latino soaps and was very engrossed. will Jesus find out that Miguel is his real father? dun dun dunnnn

La Paz is the highest capital city in the world (though technically its legislative branch is in Sucre) and like yesterday i had the whole tour to myself. no tourists around at all. the same guide from yesterday told me his life story, it would make a pretty good memoir. he was drafted into the first gulf war (for amrika) and was quarantined during 9/11 (something the media never got hold of. he said the marines were more gung-ho about catching illegal immigrants than saving any civilians). in fact most people on the tour so far have had interesting lives. there was one german guy who grew up towards the end of WWII and lived half a block from Check-Point Charlie. the most intereseting thing to happen to me was watching Hong Kong being passed back to China and that time Quebec nearly became a country. poo.

the whole city basically sits like soup in a bowl. they have eroded mountains and cost of living is $150 rent per MONTH. the rent gets cheaper as you get further to the rim of the bowl so people here perfer access to views.

trout is yummy. ate 4 saltenas from different places, they´re empanadas but with extra stuff like potatoes and eggs. like a thick stew. OHHHH and these cheese things called pastels. imagine a roti when it´s all puffed up on a hot plate. but made from dough-nutty flour, with CHEEEEESE on the inside. soft, melty cheese. burnt my tongue heaps but worth it. in the otuskirts there are markets with witch doctors. people get their cars blessed (like autobirthdays) with flowers and champagne so they won´t have accidents. you know, they could just NOT drive like maniacs. they also have cola and other drinks in small plastic bags that look like they hold little goldfish, and drink out of them using straws.

asked tour guide why there were so few tourists and he said they used to have lots of Israelis, particularly off-duty Moussad, but they eventually banned them (they now need special visas) because they got tired of the soldiers "molesting the women and killing the chickens," haha. the cheese itself has made Bolivia worthwhile.