La Paz is not Peaceful

Quite contrary to the name of the city, La Paz Bolivia is really not very peaceful. heres why:
1. every night I have fallen asleep to the bar across the street from my hostel and every morning woken up at 6am to the sound of honking and traffic down below. It is quite strange why so many people decided to populated the area of la paz. it rests at around 3300meters and many houses are built on large mountains surrounding the altiplano. Becuase of this, my first couple of days have been me panting around trying to acclimitize. i showed up not having really slept for 2 days and could not breathe. i spent my first day slowing weaving in and out of the masses and walking from one bench to another. the indegenous women who carry huge loads of stuff wrapped up in shawls were passing me with ease climbing up the steep hills. the women here seem to work really hard. and lots of them have these cool looking top hats that rest on their heads. it seems to defy gravity becuase i have yet to figure out how they do not fall off.

2.i showed up super stressed out that i would not be able to get into the country. with two hours before my flight took off in miami to get to bolivia that i needed a visa to get in. i had no idea of this and freaked out. the women at the american airlines check in counter told me i needed two passport size photos, $135, and an application. so i quickly zoomed off from the aiport in a taxi, went to the nearest walgreens to get my photos taken, and in 30 min was back in the aiport with just enough time to get on my flight. i nearly shat myself i was so scared my whole trip would be canceled becase of this. but, low and behold...when i show up to bolivia immigration does not even ask for my photos. all they want is my $135 in cash. every american who enters bolivia has to pay this to get a 5 year visa. it is probably the most ridiculous amount of money i have ever had to pay to get into a county.

3. i went on the worlds most dangerous road on a bike and survived! la paz is surrounded my tons of amazing ecotourism places riden with adrenaline(biking, trekking, mountainering, etc.). i spent yesterday in a motocross helmet, shin gards, wrist gards, and goggles zooming down 63meters of gravel road with a cliff of 400meters off to my left. i had to pry my hands off of my brakes they were so sore after the day. the exursion also came with a buffet at this random place with a pool. as if the biking was not enough, it took 3 hours getting back to la paz with our van zooming in and out of lanes trying to race the other van. there was some mooning involved between vans, a little light hearted competition. at least we were all loosened up from the liter bottle of cubre libre that was bought, coco leaves in our teeth, and a fantastic cd mix of ludacris, mama mia, and others on repeat. i met some great people too from ireland, australia, and britain and spent the rest of the night with them in their bar in their hostel, which was quite fun. maybe i will run into them as i head down south to the salt flats in uruny.

i am looking forward to getting out of the city and start hitting up smaller towns. cities are fun and exciting, but a little overwhelming.

bbfn (bye bye for now)