A JOURNEY IN BOLIVIA 1988
transfer to a plane to La Paz.
The airport of La Paz, "El Alto", is located at an altitude of 4100 m. We were preparing for the dreaded "altitude sickness". Because of the thin air, people who have just come up from sea level often have problems. And indeed, after a few minutes I felt as if I had run a mile. Our luggage was collected by a porter and we passed customs without any problems. Outside we were accosted by a lady who "worked" for a hotel, or perhaps all hotels in La Paz. She resolutely tried to overwhelm the innocent gringos and get them to take a taxi ride to TiahuaNako (near Tiwanaku) for a lot of dollars. Coincidentally, her husband turned out to be a taxi driver. They took us for $ 10 to the Milton hotel (not Hilton!), Where we had a room for Bs 28 a night. This was cheap, they said. We also agreed that we would go to Tiwanaku the next day for $ 50.
Monday, August 1st
Although I thought I had set my watch to Bolivian time, we still got up at seven instead of eight. We had slept reasonably well and the feeling of lack of air had diminished. We did have a slight headache, but that could have been caused by fatigue. It was recommended to drink "mate de coca" against altitude sickness. It was difficult to judge the effect of this. We stayed a bit irritated all day. Incidentally, we were also advised to take it easy on the first day in La Paz, possibly stay in bed and certainly not smoke. However, we were stubborn and still wanted to go to Tiwanaku. After all, you do have to spend the time efficiently?
On the street we saw more and more Bolivian women wearing black or sometimes brown bowler hats. They had some merchandise with them and sat on the sidewalk, where they sat all day for a turnover of perhaps Bs 10.
At ten o'clock there was a large Dodge in front of our hotel. Last night's taxi driver had chartered another driver. However, he himself would buy us tickets for the bus to Cochabamba and post my letter written in Sao Paulo.
The new driver spoke only Spanish, but we could understand him. He deftly directed us through the city and brought us to Tiahuanaco, the ruins of an Inca temple. The ride was on the Altiplano, a plain at an altitude of about 4000 meters. Although it was cold in the morning, the temperature rose over the course of the afternoon to more than 20 degrees. The ruin of Tiahuanaco is famous, but it did not impress us much, probably because of our unfit constitution. Kik did find his
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