Food tour in La Paz
Our arrival in La Paz is quite early and it’s the very early hours of the morning. The first impression is of El Alto, the city above La Paz where thousands of minibus are one after the other to bring people about. There are hardly any personal cars, mostly buses and minibus. It’s pretty chaotic.
Then we have a long road going down to La Paz and the view is fantastic. La Paz sits at the bottom in valley surrounded by high hills connected by steep roads and telepherics. It’s impressive to see as the bus go down the winding highway to the very bottom.
Since we stay in La Paz for at least 4 days, and I Sucre’s hostel did kill my mood – I booked an AirBnB for us to enjoy our stay in the city better. I am stunned that a complete studio is the same price as a private ensuite (moderately comfortable) hostel room. Hostels are less and less value for money. Sometimes the price you pay for what you get is really not worth it.
We found ourselves a little out of age for best socialization – which is one of the major plus of hostels usually – the common room where you meet fellow travelers and share stories. Very few gave us that so far. We tend to switch between hostel and AirBnB depending on how long we stay in a place. Laundry has been exceptionally expensive in Latin America, which surprised us ! Sometimes one batch of laundry cost the same as your room in a hostel. An AirBnB that is a little more expensive with a washing machine sometimes ends up being really good value. Food for thoughts.
Anyhow – our Airbnb in La Paz is great and we paid the night before to make sure we could snooze as soon as we arrive from the night bus. We just sleep the whole morning away then do some groceries for the next few days. We are lucky because at street level are two tour agencies and we just have to go downstairs to book our tour to Tiwanaku for the next day. It was half price from all that I could find on the internet. Something that verified itself many times since we arrived in Bolivia. Do not book online, almost everything is half price when you book a day or two before locally.
I have booked a Food tour with the Red Cap walking tour for tonight and we head over the meeting point around 6pm. It’s in front of San Francisco Church – and a party is in full swing. A lot of traditionally dressed Bolivians are dancing, it smells of beers and the singers have doubtfully good. La Paz at night is vibrant – the city is full of street food and people mingle and going about.
The food tour was excellent, and there was too much to eat. We first stop at a food stall where we try heart’s skewers with a spicy peanut sauce. Delicious ( our favorite of the whole tour ), then we continue to the central market.
Even though it’s quite late, many small stalls are open and sell snacks or meals. We stop at two stalls there, one that serves a sweet corn thick warm drink, that is very filling. The drink has for accompaniment a freshly fried puff filled with cheese and dusted with icing sugar. The combination is really good.
The second stall in the market is a simple sausage sandwich with pickled vegetables. We saw a lot of these stalls around the minibus stops in Sucre but also in La Paz on our way to the meeting point. Many students were eating this is Sucre around lunch. It’s simple, filling and delicious.
Once we finish in the main central market, we cross to the opposite side of the church. By the road side is a dummy hanging from a lamppost with a board saying “thieves pinched is a thieve that will be beaten”. The guide explains to us that whenever we see such dummies, it means that the community is watching and the area is generally safe. Apparently recently there was an amendment of the Bolivian constitution that enables people to protect their place of work and personal effects. Basically, it paves the for mob behavior to do themselves justice. Indeed, Alexis had seen a video of a Bolivia crowd beating to death a thief in a market.
To reach our next stop we walk through pedestrian alleys with a lot of small stalls selling anything and everything. We also have a view of the hill lights around us, like thousands of fireflies. It’s beautiful. La Paz at night is full of life and possibly the most interesting part of the day to go out. If I compare to Chile, where at night everyone for home. We feel so much safer in Bolivia so far.
Our next meal is a dish made of lama floss on white corn, boiled potatoes and boiled eggs. You have to put on it their mixed fresh chili and tomato relish. It’s very salty and I am not a fan – but our group voted it their favorite. With a beer, it’s okay. By that point everyone is full but there is more to eat on the tour !
It starts to rain heavily suddenly as we exit the restaurant, and we have a good 10min walk to our last stop. It’s heavy and uphill – with the altitude we arrive panting at our destination.
It’s a fancy restaurant at the back of a hotel. We try there two dishes that I didn’t like at all, same for Alexis. One is a mix of potatoes, sliced meat, sliced sausages and onions. It’s supposed to be a drunk food that you eat after you have partied. It’s unrefined and too heavy. The last dish is cheese gravy with some local herbs and white corn. It’s sweet, savory and the herbs give this dish a taste of perfume. I really didn’t like it at all.
We toasted all of these last dishes with a cocktail called Chuflay made with the local alcohol called Singani. That was another traitorous delicious beverage. You have to be very careful when drinking this.
The rain had stopped and a little after 9 pm, we bid the guide and our group goodbye. What a great way to spend an evening! We decide that we will do at least one food tour in every country that we visit going forward.