Where in the World is Jamila?: La Paz and the Ticketless Ride to Isle del Sol (Potosi and Sucre)

So I am far behind on my pictures for Bolivia and leaving the country today, but there won't be as many as my last post! Kallon and I left Sucre one night before the girls and took the most comfortable bed-seat bus overnight to La Paz. We spent one night in the Adventure Brew Hostel before moving to the Wild Rover party hostel, where Romilly and Siobhan joined us. Our dorm room was a dark den in a huge hostel, with it's own pub.

Parade in main square La Paz

The city itself is huge, built up into the surrounding hillsides, but full of great artisan markets and food. I visited a music museum, where you could see and play instruments from around South America, and my last day I went on an amazing walking tour, where I found out lots of local history:

San Pedro prison located in La Paz is like a little town of it's own, where prisoners run the prison, selling cocaine as a main means of employment, with very few guards
The reason Indigenous women wear bowler-type hats is because in the 1900s colonisers had ordered too many small hats, so they told women they were all the rage in Europe, and they became part of the traditional outfit
Shoe-shiners in the city wear masks covering their faces because feet are considered dirty in this culture and they want to remain unknown
Cholitas (Indigenous women) in La Paz wear long skirts that cover their legs because calves are considered the most attractive part of a woman

"Witches Market" - Artisan Market

We ended the walking tour at Urban Rush, a tall building overlooking the city, where for 100 bolivianos (about $15) you could walk vertically down a wall and then free-fall. Yes I did it! One of the scariest things I've ever done!

View from top of building I scaled down

Me in a Super Mario costume scaling 50m

A few days ago I left La Paz, heading out on my own again (though I may see some people again in Cusco) to the Island of the Sun. Because of some semi-bad information regarding the busses I ended up without a ticket waiting outside the hostel and hoping for a seat. Ended up getting the last seat on a bus headed to Copacabana, where I then took a ferry over to the small Isle del Sol for a few restful days (basic electricity and cold water; no wifi, etc.). Such a beautiful village with a nice beach, fresh trout and some good hiking up to 4066m to see ruins.