Day 26 - La Paz - 13 April 2012

Day 26 – La Paz, Bolivia – 13 April 2012

This morning we went and visited four museums on the ‘Bolivian’ side of town (the city has a main thoroughfare running through it, at the bottom of the basin. One side is more touristy, whilst the other side is the economic hub of La Paz).  The four museums were a combo package, visit all four for Bs4 each (not even NZ$1).  The museums showed the history of La Paz and Bolivia, including how only about a hundred or so years ago Bolivia had land on the Pacific coastline.  Subsequently Chile had taken that land and Bolivia is now landlocked.  Also another museum had an underground ‘safe’, where gold from between 500 and 1000 was stored.  Pretty cool to see.

We then walked back to the ‘touristy’ side of town and had a bit of lunch.  After lunch we met up with Nico, our Italian friend who was on our 4x4 tour.  We had arranged to meet him in La Paz today and he had asked us to book him into our hostel.  We went out for a drink with him and then went to the art museum.  I’m not that fussed on this art but I was interested in seeing the building as it was constructed in the 18^th century and had been maintained very well.  Just before we left the cafe to head to the museum, there was a massive thunder storm with very heavy rain.  We waited until the rain stopped until we left.  When the rain did stop and we were wandering the streets, there was storm water flowing everywhere! Obviously Bolivia’s storm water drainage system is not up to standard. About 8pm we went out for dinner with Nico to round out the day.

La Paz museums - http://www.bolivialine.com/bolivia/museums_la_paz_1.htm