To make out tour we had to run down streets to find the bus meeting point. Twenty minutes of running at 3600 meters makes you tired very quickly! What time is it? No the bus is leaving now. We look around and don't find a bus anywhere. Frustrated, hot, and hungry my mom and I stood there. Oh no our whole day plan is thrown off! We decide to scrap all plans and just go with the flow.
We knew there was a lookout point named mirador Killi Killi. For some reason I thighs it was on top of a cable car. We wave down a taxi and I draw him a picture of a cable car hoping that will get the message. I mean this massive gondola is a major point of the city right. After some broken communication we think he has it right and are dropped off at a red gondola. Wasn't the gondola yellow?
Oh well it gave us spectacular views.
Everywhere you looked the city was covered in buildings.
Even in the mountain sides.
At the top we explored first to the right. One thing was apparent there weren't any tourists up here.
Tracing back and exploring instead to the left gave of views into real Aymara life. Little stalls lined the street. I'm still unsure if these were houses or shops.
Cholitas sat outside burning fires and cooking in the chilly air. All around people were moving about, going somewhere, or selling something.
Reaching the their market we found that we were in the true witches market. Not the small street off if the main square that sold stuff for souvenirs but the real life market. Rows upon rows of shabby stalls stood selling talismans of all kinds.
The market seemed to be in sections. One area had stall with men peaking their heads out ready to clean or make you shoes.
One street was just plain dirty but had a certain charm to it.
After hours of exploring beyond the market and just walking the streets we started to walk back toward where we thought the cable car was. On the way we noticed bands start to appear. The men were standing around playing while the cholitas watched and giggled.
The sun cast a pretty glow on the city below and the mountain in the distance.
Then we spotted a massive band standing around eating. We stood and watched as they ate popcorn off of the largest drum. Once all of the popcorn was gone the band began to strike up their tune.
The woman took the floor and began to dance. The music carried on and on in their native tone while the woman threw their arms up to the sun mouthing words. Before I knew it I was being swept up by one of the cholitas to dance with her!
She hugged and kissed me and begun to spin me around.
For the next twenty minutes we danced and danced and danced. Locals looked on at us and some even took pictures. Everything I tried to catch my breath she would twirl me faster. I imagined the U.S. Newspaper would read "American dies by death of cholitas dancing!" I was having a blast!
Luckily I was able to swap out with my mom. She had some moves too!!!
We discovered that they were going to dance for the next two hours until the sun finally set. This would be the start of the Aymara new year party all the way until the first rays appeared the next morning.
Tired but thrilled at our day we made out way back down and to our hotel. We discovered that our fabulous day wasn't even in La Paz but a city above it at 4100 m called El Alto. Not exactly a tourist destination or spot. There are more than one gondola and we never even reached the right lookout point. Turns out that just exploring without a clue can lead to wonderful things.
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