We have arrived safely in La Paz, after a 15 hour bus ride... I think I might start looking into some flights to Brazil and Argentina, even though they are at least 5 times more expensive, the time saved will be well worth the price.
La Paz is huge, today Zac and I plan to eat cheap food (9 Bolivianos for a meal = $1.20), explore, book a salt flats tour and try not to get lost! We will probably stay one more night in this insane party city, and possibly a third night depending on whether we decide to bike the Bolivian 'death road'... Zac is sold, but I am still a little hesitant, it's worth a google if you haven't heard the name before.
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| Watching the sunset in our last night in Lima |
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 Zac's a little nervous about the pressure of finishing a famalia grande famalia size bowl of rice |
I'm probably going to stray a bit off topic here, but I wanted to describe how travelling to South America has been more influential on my character than I ever expected. My time in Cambodia was life changing in a way that I was able to spend so much time with the kids at ABC's and Rice, and expose a world I had never seen, I guess that helped me skip the so called 'culture shock' of Peru. I really enjoyed staying in one city for a long period of time, but at the same time it has been interesting traveling at such a fast pace; seeing different places and people has been a totally different experience all together. I think, in terms of backpacking, my favourite part so far has been meeting people during their travels- knowing their stories, reasons for traveling, and just their general take on life and how smart, worldly and happy they are. It's refreshing to learn about people that I genuinely enjoy listening to, and I know what I take away from this trip will make me think and act a little differently at home in Australia (just as my Cambodia trip did, and I'm sure all my future travels will).
Being in South America has also made me realise how wrong the stereotypes and connotations tied to traveling here can be (or any country for that matter). Zac said to Gran and me from the very beginning that westerners need to calm down and relax in places different to their own, and he couldn't be more right. I realise I still have a little while left on my trip, but so far everything has ran so smoothly, the people are friendly and I haven't felt unsafe once. Obviously a little common sense doesn't go astray, but I have been pleasantly surprised everywhere we have been so far; and if being offered cocaine on the streets of Cusco is the worst thing to happen to me on this trip, then I can safely say I've had more trouble on the streets of Brisbane on a Saturday night.
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