Love the bowler hats
I traveled to Bolivia this past week – and by “high life,” I mean the altitude! I did not partake of the abundant coca leaves while there (it’s really popular in tea and purports to help with the altitude). My boss’s boss went with me on this trip; we got along great and it was wonderful to have her along. And, turns out she likes to shop as much as I do!
We arrived Sunday morning via Miami and Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We got lucky and caught an earlier flight into La Paz, so we were able to take a nap, then go out for a walk and shopping before our co-worker Mike came to pick us up for dinner. We took the teleferico to the cool Zone Sur part of town, where we met Mike’s wife, and Julie and her husband at a swanky restaurant with cool Bolivian art.
Julie took us back to the Zona Sur Tuesday night to hit some higher-end stores, then we went to a great Italian restaurant.
Thursday after work we flew to Santa Cruz, the largest city in Bolivia. It was like night and day – La Paz is high altitude and a bit chilly, while Santa Cruz is hot and humid. We visited the consular agency there on Friday. After lunch with the two ladies who work in the agency, we went shopping again, and found more treasures we couldn’t live without. Saturday morning, we flew home (with more airport shopping!) – I got home around 11PM, so it was a long travel day. Nice to be home!
Choclo (corn)
Hotel view – you can see the teleferico near the bottom of the photo
Old trunk in a shop, addressed to US Embassy La Paz
Napping between customers