Exploring El Alto

The plan for the morning was to explore El Alto using the cable cars (gondola). After breakfast we walked to the nearby station for the Red line and went up two stations to El Alto.

At 3 Bolivianos (about NZD0.60) per ride, it was a steal. Normally cable cars are tourist traps but here, it is public transport. The scenery of the entire valley, hillsides and the distant mountains was awesome.

We walked through busy markets, shops and then deserted streets to get to the Yellow station. Yes, we did feel uncomfortable at times as there were some very poor areas where peopled lived in single-room longhouses along the streets. There were many public toilets and bathhouses as people don’t have their own at home.

Coming from Borneo, the markets aren’t “new” to me but perhaps the most interesting part were the giant pumpkins weighing up to 45kg!

We decided to overshoot the central station on the yellow line and descend into a depression (topographical) further along for a look-see before catching another ride on the yellow line in the opposite direction.

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We taxied to San Francisco square where we had lunch in Mercado Lanza. Some stalls were far too busy with queues waiting so we opted for a less busy one. The food was probably not as good; the milanesa was precooked rather than hot from the pan.

We needed to set ourselves up with USD for the rest of Bolivia and the beginning of Argentina. It made sense to try ATMs in the pedestrian mall as the ones in our area failed us for various reasons (some are not set up for USD, and those than are set up can’t dispense them for some reason).

Our walk took us near the Cathedral and we had hoped to visit the inside this time. Unfortunately, the disabled protest had got more vocal and the riot police were using water cannons on a row of invailds in wheelchairs! How bad is that?

Handicapped being water-cannoned by the police. How bad is that?

Anyway, we tried more ATMs for USD all the way back to the hostal ane we resorted to getting Bolivianos in the end.

After a rest, Kim elected to have a massage across the road. I was reluctant as I like my massages strong and have been disappointed all too often. He came back with a glowing reference for them which prompted me to head across the road for one as well, complete with hot stones.

Incidentally, Kim got his shoes polished today on the streets.  The shoe shiners here wear balaclavas as it is seen as an unrespectable job.  It is an honest job but they don’t want friends, relatives and neighbours to know that’s what they do to support their families.  Sad but true.