Through immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes, and had to find my way out of the airport, which was easier said than done due to lack of signage. Fortunately, I found an ATM on the way, so I could stock up on cash for the next few days. Got a taxi for 80 bolivianos (which I now know is a ripoff – 60 is the “real” price) – but getting ripped off by $3 on day number one in a country is nothing to get too upset about. Now, the fact he drove 140kph on the switchbacks down the mountain, that’s another story. Checked into my hotel the Radisson by 3:15, and was out cold by 3:30. Woke up the next morning to a fantastic view of La Paz out my window:
After about an hour to get moving and adjusted to the thin air, decided to start on a walk. I seriously don’t know what we did before google maps. I decided to slowly head down to the main tourist area, and was stopping every 2 blocks or so to catch my breath. 13,000+ feet above sea level kinda hits you hard. Along the walk, I saw a restaurant with a name that sounded familiar. Checked TripAdvisor, and sure enough I’d seen it there, advertising great breakfasts. Plus, Cafe Il Lampu had a fantastic seat on a little second floor mini balcony to people watch from:
Fortified with some espressos, toast, and my new vocab word of the day “huevos duros” or hard-boiled eggs, I was ready for some more slow wandering. After another 10 minutes or so, I came upon the church of San Francisco, which had a fantastic plaza to camp out and people watch for a bit . Are you catching a theme here? It was lots of stop and go walking in the thin air for the first several hours:
