La Paz and the Royal Visit - Week 37

26th May

Katie was up at 6am to for the greatly anticipated arrival of her parents! They arrived all well and with bags (thankfully no repeat performance with the lack of bags, Al!) which we were especially pleased about as they had brought HP sauce, M&S bras and maltesers!! The altitude hadn't effected them at all so typical Wright-style, it was straight out for sightseeing.

You must have noticed a slump in the editorial board's output and enthusiasm. We have therefore decided to import an ace stand-in from Manchester, England, who reports as follows [Last two sentances in Dad's own words...]:

La Paz is a fascinating dump of a town, situated in a bowl between 4200 and 3800m. From a 3 1/2 hour open-top bus tour of La Paz we learned that it has at least 8 government buildings, 2 universities, 3 schools, 1 cathedral, 1 football stadium and a kiddies' playground. Also, and this was hammered home with some force, the poor live at the top where the weather is very nice and the rich live at the bottom where the weather is even nicer.


Why do the indian women wear bowler hats? In the early 1900s, an importer acquired a large consignment of bowlers too small for men to wear. He persuaded the upper class women that bowlers were the height of fashion in Europe and shifeted the lot. The native women copied the gentlefolk and wear bowlers in great numbers to the present day.

The witches market complete with Llama foetus

[Back to Katie:] So after a busy day sightseeing and shopping in the markets, we booked our bus to Lake Titicaca, leaving the next day.