La Paz, Bolivia - May 12, 2008

Well, it only took about a day, a dozen asprin and a bag or two of pretzels to finally start pulling out of the altitude sickness haze.

Baasje and I got up today and walked down the main prado to a tourist agency recommended in the Rough Guide. We made arrangements for Copacabana - which we splurged a little on, on account of it being the spot where we´ll be celebrating my birthday - and Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni and the Salar. The flight to Sucre, the three day tour of the Salar including accomodation, tranportation and food and a ´tourist bus´ back to La Paz cost about $150.

We walked back down towards our hostel (Hostal Naira) and had lunch at a place called 100% Natural (sandwhich, papas fritas, fresh squeezed juice and tea for 44 Bolivianos, or about $6US).

After lunch we checked out the witchcraft mercado. The endless stalls, filled with everything from musical instruments to dried llama fetuses were, linked by arched doorways leading into beautiful central courtyards. The Cholo women who tend the stalls wear boler hats, huge skirs and bright shalls. I´ve posted a pic on Facebook. I´ll post more when I get back, but the internet connection is unbelievably slow. It takes about .5 hour to upload 3 pics! (I see what you were talking about, Cara!)

We also took in the Coca museum - too much information to post on the blog, but I will post some pics.

Baasje´s out buying a toque and checking our flight time. When he gets back we´ll go for dinner and then hit the hay early - we´ll be leaving for Copacabana at 7am tomorrow morning.

I´ll check in again when we reach the next place with internet access...