Marriage and La Paz

La Paz - the second highest city in the world. I used to believe it was the highest, but it seems Potosi is higher, according to a Bolivian I asked o.0 La Paz is surrounded by the Cordillera de los Andes, and taking a walk there is extremely tiring, because the air is so thin.

We went to La Paz this past weekend, because a cousin of my host mom got married.


We arrived at 5 am in the morning, because we took the night bus, and of course, after a couple hours sleep, my host mom wanted to start running around and buying stuff >< I was still quite sick, so I didnt feel very much like it.. but oh well. Btw, orange juice selling women like this campesina here are very common in Bolivia.. in Cochabamba, they stand on almost every street corner.. its almost like prostitution, just with orange juice.. o.0 wait.. that sounded odd haha!



This is the main plaza of La Paz, sporting the Parliament, the government seat and some church!


The left building is Parliament, the right building is the government's seat.. Evo Morales was in there when I was visiting! Sadly I couldnt see him :<


I just had to take a picture with those guards.. but of course, you arent allowed to approach them. So I had to cheat a bit and just place myself on the other street side :p


Another view of La Paz.. one of the richest cities in colonial times.


We met a fortune teller.. and I just had to have him read my future! He first put some weird red liquid on my hands, and I still have no clue what it actually was. Maybe I dont even want to know, really.

He read the future in plomb, so I had to take this spoon full of plomb, and then throw it into the water.

It was a quite interesting diagnostic, from what I understood. It seems I'll be getting married and both my husband and I will earn a lot of money! However, I have to take care of my health.. well, that at least is nothing new..


The oldest church in La Paz.

We had the chance to see a religious desfile! I love desfiles, they are so colorful, and there is music, and popcorn, and ... :>


I love their traditional costumes!


Finally the wedding.. Bolivian weddings start in the afternoon and go on all night until dawn. Church started at 5pm, then we went to the hotel the party was being held. Luckily we got some hamburgers in between, since food was only served at midnight ><


From right to left: Dayana, my host sister; Rosemary, my host mom; myself; and some very snobby and extremely rich aunt I have forgotten the name of. Wasnt important, anyways.

That's Alejandro, a 16y old nephew of Dayana who followed me around all night. He was pretty disappointed when I told him I was 10 years older than him haha.. but he was a real gentleman!


OMG ... a.... NINJA....??? (<3<3) wtf...!