La Paz, Bolivia

Tuesday, October 13 we were in La Paz, Bolivia for the last day of our group tour. Our first stop of the morning was at the Valley of the Moon.

La Paz is set at the bottom of a valley surrounded by high clay cliffs. Erosion has made this interesting landscape.

From the stark, desert-like landscape of the Valley of the Moon, we went higher in the city to get a view of the world's highest soccer stadium. Bolivians are acclimated to this altitude, and their soccer teams used this to their advantage when playing in La Paz.

This European-looking arch is in a city park area, high above La Paz.

Once again in the downtown area, we had time to visit the town center, the parks, and the government center.

The park offered a great opportunity for people-watching.

From there, we headed toward the market area where we had time to explore. Our first stop was the Witches' Market which sells all manner of amulets for curing ills or causing something wished for to happen.

After the Witches' Market, we continued to walk around the market area, picking up a few souvenirs.

Henry told some shopkeepers that he wanted to ride a "colectivo" the local bus. He didn't want to ride far; he just wanted to say he had ridden one in La Paz. Before I knew it, he had handed the driver his coins and hopped on the bus.

When he came back from his short ride, we took his picture with the shopkeepers. After the picture, the women helped us negotiate with a taxi driver for a ride back to the hotel. Taxi drivers do not have meters; instead, they nogotiate the fee before the trip is taken. We rode for almost twenty minutes back to the hotel for 20 Bolivianos -- about $7.00!

This day ended our formal tour. The next day was a travel day: three flights before we ultimately landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina where we would spend a week on our own.