After some 20 hours of airports and planes, I finally made it safe and sound to the beautiful city of La Paz. At about 5 am this morning, I landed at El Alto airport, which at some 4000 m above sea level, is the highest international airport in the world. When the plane was landing, it kind of felt like the plane was ascending more than it was descending. It was kind of sketchy. Other than that things went extremely smoothly. Luggage, customs, immigration, all without any problems.
Leaving the airport, I got to briefly drive through El Alto, the city where I am hoping to conduct most of my research. El Alto has become one of Bolivia's poorest and fastest growing cities. It has also become an epicentre of political and social mobilization in Bolivia. There has been a lot of very interesting stuff taking place in recent year.
From El Alto, I got a lift down to La Paz, about 500 m bellow. The sun was rising over the surrounding mountains just was we were driving down. The view was pretty amazing! Currently I am staying in the apartment of a fellow CUSO cooperant living in La Paz.
One of my major fears was that I would get altitude sickness. I've gotten it before and it sucks. But so far so good. Anything remotely physical in nature leaves me a little short of breath but other than looking completely out of shape I am feeling pretty good. I been told to take it easy these next couple days.
I'll be in La Paz until Wednesday after which I will make the final leg of my journey to Cochabamba!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment