Ale departed on a Thursday and took flights from San Antonio to Dallas to Miami and finally to La Paz. She arrived early in the morning Friday around 6am. Ale had no problems getting into Bolivia, Mexicans don't have to pay for a visa like Americans. Amazingly, she didn't feel any effects of the high altitude of La Paz. She also found the cool temperatures to be quite refreshing compared to the Texas summer where she was coming from.
I still had to go in for my last day of work, so Ale stayed at my house and took a nap all morning. I arranged to have a car pick her up and take her to the embassy in the afternoon so I should show her around.
The employees of the consular section had organized a small get together for my going away and another person's birthday. You'll notice the lack of men. There were only 3 other men apart from myself that worked in the consular section.
That night we went to the American-style shopping mall in the Zona Sur to see the Batman movie. I think we ended up eating at Burger King (I know, it's lame - but we were tired and it's just easier).
The following day we went up the large San Francisco cathedral in downtown La Paz. However, before that we stopped at Wist'upiku, which is a pretty successful Bolivian chain of restaurants featuring empanadas and a traditional hot drink called Api - it's similar to the Peruvian chicha morada in that it is made from blue corn.
We then headed over to the Witches Market on Sagarnaga Street to check out to many products featuring coca leaves and the llama fetuses.
Unfortunately, we really didn't have a whole lot of time in La Paz. In between these little excursions, I was trying to get everything packed up and the house cleaned. We left La Paz early on Sunday. The trip to Peru was quite an adventure which I'll put in a separate post.
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