La Paz is f*ckin` crazy!!! The population is mostly comprised of indigenous peoples and it has the first and only indigenous president. A really cool city with churches, museums, traffic, protests, and witches markets. In the witches markets you can buy any type of brew to cure anything from bad luck to physical sickness, llama fetus and carcases, san pedro which is a cactus similar to peyote, to statues, and anything else wierd. There are protests almost everyday and a crazy vibe everywhere you go. Around every corner you will see little old women chewing coca leaves, wraped in brightly colored fabrics- most times carrying a baby, long braids, bowler hats, and selling something or other. We spent our time relaxing after our salar de uyuni trek, wandering around the city which has just s many hills as SF, and eating good cheap food. Seriously- food is like $2 a plate, and a room costs around $3.
We also went to the famous coca museum which explains the interesting history of coca and it`s relation to the inca and the people of the andies before it was turned into the drug cocaine. The inca were using coca as a local anistetic for brain surgeries when at the same time in europe they were using methods such as alcohol or simply hitting the pacient on the head. To this day it is used for altitude sickness and by laborors who need to keep their energy alive in the high altitudes. It is a way of life and not considered a drug. Companies like cocacola and the pharmacueticle industry have bastardized the sacred plant and enevitably catapulted the cocaine industry. To this day pharmaceutical companies own large plantations, and play a role in Bolivia´s economy. Bolivia also is responsible for the majority of coca used to produce cocaine and has many induviduals involved in drug trafficking, along with Colombia. But the people still fight to have coca recognized as a sacred plant and not a drug.
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