Shopping day in La Paz

We got to sleep in which is always something that I am thankful for. We didn't have to check out until 1:00pm, so we had the free hostel breakfast of all you can eat pancakes (awesome) and hung out around the hostel until check out. We were taking a 7:00pm, over night bus to Uyuni, Bolivia so we had all day to waste and wanted to get all the hostel time that we had paid for.
Once we ventured out into town, we needed to purchase gloves, socks and leggings for our trip. Luckily, these are readily available at the roadside kiosks around town and we were able to find ones we liked for pretty cheap. We ended up with llama lined leggings...never thought I'd be able to say that, lol. As we walked to the post office, trying for the third unsuccessful time to send my postcards, we stumbled upon a local festival. We stopped and watched the dancing for a few minutes and I was amused because they had little flags which reminded me of colorguard. It's nice to see the local festivities and take part in them.

As we walked around, we ended up at the witches' market. Here you can buy baby llama carcasses, toad talismans, owl feathers, stone amulets, candles, gems, and soaps. Old liquor bottles contain potions concocted by boiling medicinal plants and animal parts. It is definitely a sight to see!

We grabbed some dinner at Cafe del Mundo, our favorite food spot in La Paz, and then grabbed our bags and headed to the bus station. At many of the bus stations, you need to pay a local tax in addition to your bus fare, so once we had our tax slips we boarded the bus and settled in for the 12 hour ride. We had all of our winter clothing with us so we were prepared for any temperature the bus gave us but what we couldn't control was how bumpy the road was. It was like trying to sleep on a jackhammer. I listened to music until about 1:00am and then tried to get some sleep. We stopped for a bathroom break at 3:00am and I still had not been able to drift off. Finally as we started back on the road, I was able to get about an hour from 3:30am-4:30am which would be all I'd have to go on for the next day as our tour of the salt flats began at 10:00am that morning.

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