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Street noise (and perhaps also the jet-lag), wakes us at 6.00. With Britta we take a taxi to the city center : Plaza the Armas. Round this park is a cathedral, the town hall and some government buildings. The number of police man and soldiers suggest that this isn't a very safe city.
Quite fast we find a Internet possibility to inform our parents of the successful arrival. If it's always this easy, we don't need the phone anymore - great.
Through the (sleeping - HELLO! IT IS ALREADY 10 O'CLOCK!) shopping streets we walk to Plaza San Martin. Fortunately café's are already open, and we can order a breakfast. Our first Spanish sentences are successfully pronounced.
After visiting Plaza San Martin, we walk through the small streets towards the "Gallery Merado": a large two floor indoor market. Here they have really everything for sale: vegetables and fruit, pots and pans, flesh and fish, and much more. And everything surrounded with colorfull dressed Peruvian women. We immediately try the fruit stands: "jugo the naranja por favor" (ghugo the narangha por fabor).
A last walk allong the university buildings and then it is time to take a taxi back to the hotel. A very last walk along the ocean beach, and then it's time to return to the airport, to Bolivia.
Again new (exiting) stamp in the passport, and with Bolivian Lloyd to La Paz. From the plane we have a splendid view on the Andes and the Titicaca lake. Nevertheless, a 2 hours time span to get from sea level to 4200m gives a strange (ill) feeling in our head and stomach. We walk (slowly) through... indeed... the customs authorities control and don't forget the time-correction on (loosing one hour). A new search for money exchanges results in ordinary gift shops where we convert our dollars into Bolivian Pesos (Bolivianos, but now the conversion is somewhat easier, 2 Bs equal 1 Sol).
The airport actually lies in "El Alto", and driving downhill to La Paz results in a sparkling (because of the glowing lights) view over the city. In the hotel, our chamber is next to the internet-room; so a long (but slow) mail is sent home. En by the time we finish it's already 10pm. Although a lot of noise and music in the streets (celebration of Saint Rosario), we try get some sleep. Veerle have not digested the sudden change of altitude very well and lies awake all night. In the morning we learn that 2 other persons have a bad altitude sickness.
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