Bolivia- I´ll be seeing you again!!

Bolivia in Brief
So, at the crack of dawn, I boarded my bus- once again it was an upmarket chicken bus, and headed off to La Paz, Bolivia (with a short stop-over in Copacabana).

Copacabana is a super-touristy little place, just past the Peru-Bolivia border at Titicaca. I spent a nice bit of time checking out the market stalls for bargains, and being mistaken for being Argentinian (what the?!). Then my next chicken bus arrived to take me to La Paz.. Not too long past Copacabana, the bus stopped at a port near the lake. We were all told to hop off the bus, buy a ticket for a ricketty little boat and meet the bus on the other side of the lake- yep, the bus was loaded onto a punt, and sent across the river!..

Once we were all across, it was off to La Paz again!.. The outskirts of the city are almost rural looking, but as for downtown- it's awesome!.. I treated myself to a room in a nice hotel for the couple of nights I was spending there- good move! I was given my swipe card, the porter picked up my dirty old backpack without batting an eyelid (nice bloke!), and we headed for the lift. Once inside the lift, I realised that i was in room 1301 (on the 13th floor), and the lift only went to the 12th floor.. I was kinda confused for a minute, until we walked up the stairs from the 12th floor to my room, and the porter opened the door- ummmmm... it was a penthouse suite!!!!!!!!!!! How on Earth did I swing that!?!? My own kitchen! King-size bed!!! And HUGE dining setting! And the rooftop was my balcony!!! My nights there were probably the best I have slept for the whole trip! Oh yeah, when I got back from dinner, my bed had been turned down, chocolate on the pillow, and a nice note wishing me "dulces sueños" (sweet dreams). LUXURY!!!

I spent my few days there wandering up and down the giant hilled streets, seeing all the gorgeous old building, monuments and cathedrals. In fact I was there for Good Friday, so I saw the parade down the main street with crosses and priests and bands playing hymns.. And, of course- there was shopping! Bolivia is SUPER CHEAP! I'm not even that good at bargaining, but I managed to get some Alpaca scarves for around $3 Australian! But, there was SOME restraint! I can only fit SO MUCH into my backpack! Even the minibar prices are reasonable!! THAT'S how cheap the place is!!! I even ate at the hotel restaurant for an extremely reasonable price (and got asked by one of the waiters, whereabouts in Ecuador I was from- UMMMMM, I'm not THAT short!)

An AC/DC incident, and more details on strange places to hear Oz music
On my last night in La Paz, I was heading back towards the hotel, when I saw a crowd gathered watching a busker. It was a bloke with some skeleton marionettes, and a "stage" for them. He set everything up, and was ready to roll... And what should the skeletons be "playing" to, but AC/DC!!!! Sensational!!!

I need to go back a bit to fill you in on other run ins with Oz music- When I was in Lima having dinner with the American bloke from the bus, the restaurant we ate at was playing Crowded House's Best of!!! Fabulous! As I'm sitting here in the internet cafe in Arica, Chile, they are cranking out Divinyls!!! When I was in Cusco (yes, spoiler alert), and heading back to the hostel at night from Plaza de Armas, there was a cop who took it upon himself to accompany me back to the hostel (which was SO not necessary, but I figured a bit of security couldn't hurt). When I told him I was Australian, he played me some Midnight Oil and Men At Work via his phone!

OK, so it's dinner time here in Chile- so I'll be off! Be good!