Monday 23 April 2012

Last Day in La Paz

When we had finally booked our bus and realised that we were leaving La Paz, we had a spurge of energy to see and do the last things that we wanted to in the City. Obvs, again we were hungover and swearing that we would detox starting from the bus ride out of town!

Our first stop was to go back to the witches market and buy everything (well most things, I resisted the llama foetus') that I had my eye on since the first visit, including; llama socks (whose wardrobe is complete without a pair?), a beautiful handmade leather handbag and a dozen handknitted finger puppets.

We then headed to the Coca museum to learn a little history about the plant which is actually used and extracted to make cocaine. But in Bolivia, for many of the population, especially those who work in the highlands, they rely on the coca leaves in day to day life as a remedy, medicine and appetite suppresser.

They can be chewed, boiled with water to make tea or are even used as an ingredient for sweets and cakes. One of the most common uses for them is to help with altitude sickness and many people carry bags of them at all times just incase.

It was interesting to see all the different uses for the leaves - including as an ingredient to Coco Cola, before they removed it due to it's strong link to cocaine.

Good to get in at least a little bit of culture....!

xxx