La Paz

From up above, La Paz is a beautiful city. It looks like it was dropped into a giant punch bowl, except that punch bowl is made up of dramatic red mountains. At the edge of the mountains, your eyes can take in the full energy and expanse of the capital.

But down on the ground,it's a bit harder to make sense of La Paz with its windy roads, traffic-filled streets, and unmemorable architecture.



While I may struggle with where I am, I am always clear on who I am with. Outfits are very telling.

There are the professionals in business suits nearly sprinting towards work.

Police in green uniforms that remind me of 1960s TV series like I dream of Jeanie or Wonder Woman. The policemen in laced up commando boots, the policewomen in high heels, both heavily armed.

The kids - at the least ones you see in the late afternoon - are all in school uniforms, and the men hunched over with the baseball caps on their heads and the ski masks over their faces are just protecting themselves from the chemicals they use to shine residents' shoes.

There are the tourists, of course, most hailing from Nordic countries or Israel. The newly arrived (and ill-prepared for Bolivian nights) are wearing shorts and flip flops, while the more seasoned sport these draw-stringed stripped pants, which are sold cheaply at numerous local shops but I have never seen a local wear.

The indigenous women swish through the streets with their long, bright, bell-shaped skirts. To keep warm, they wear socks up to to their knees, and have a knitted triangle shaped shawl (most likely made of alpaca), draped over their shoulders and pinned in the front. The outfit is made complete by a derby-style hat that sits a bit bit tilted ontop their heads.

But I'd say the overwhelming majority have on some sort of casual wear, consisting of fitted, stone-washed jeans, converse sneakers, and cropped jackets.

And what about me, you ask? Well I managed to break my purse on day one, and so I couldn't look any more American walking around with my fanny pack buckled around my waist.