March 11- Arrival

We landed a bit early in Lima and for our midnight flight to La Paz .  The connecting passengers were directed through a long but fast-moving queue for security screening.  It was a little different- keep your shoes on, no separate bag for liquids. The flight boarded and landed on time and I tried to sleep but, even on a flight leaving at midnight, I really couldn’t.

Immigration at La Paz was easy.  They never even asked for all the documentation I’d brought.  As we waited in line, a guy in a surgical mask aimed an electronic thermometer at each forehead to weed out the feverish.

I got to the hotel at 4:40 AM and managed to sleep about 4 hours.     After breakfast I ventured out for a walk and picked up provisions at a large supermarket where they had to have had 20 kinds of marshmallows.  I love checking out supermarkets when I travel to get an idea of what the average people eat.  There were many varieties of quinoa-our guide later told us that he’d grown up very poor (his father left the family) and they ate a lot of quinoa, which he rarely mentioned to his friends because that was food for poor people.  Now, of course, it’s hugely popular in the United States and well-known for its health benefits.

I’d met the other 3 women taking this part of the tour earlier in the day and when they suggested a visit to a ceramics artist recommended by the guide, I decided to join them.  The taxi ride up the mountain was worth it all by itself but the artist, Mario Sarabia, turned out to be a gracious man who told us about how he used clay from local construction projects and used an electric oven because a fire kiln wouldn’t heat the clay enough at that altitude.

Studio Entrance with some of Sarabia's work, surrounded by beautiful gardens

A vase by one of his students, in the process of curing

His array of chemicals and compounds for glazing and clay preparation- they included bone ash (from cows), silica, black iron oxide and bentonite

We met for dinner later after I’d been to the gym and done some more walking.  

A gym with a view.

We chose a Bolivian restaurant and after finding that our translation apps couldn’t handle half the words on the menu (probably because the names came from indigenous languages and not Spanish) and the waiter’s English was limited, told him to just bring us some plates with a little of everything except tripe and tongue- that we could translate!  We washed it down with a local beer and it was delicious.

The menu

Not sure what it all was, but it was very good!