top ten list

Here are some top ten differences between La Paz and home...some are better, some are worse, and some are just good to know in case you visit!

10. Always confirm the price of a taxi before you get in! They like to jack up the price when they see tourists. You also don't have to tip them! I can't imagine not tipping so they were always glad to see me coming until Juan Pablo told me you don't tip. Every now and then I still do though.

9. There are two kinds of electrical outlets 220 volts/ and 110 volts. Everything we use in the US is 110, but if you plug it in the wrong one here (like I did to my hair dryer this morning!) it will fry and won't work anymore. Luckily I unplugged the hairdryer when it started smoking, so it still works.

8. The price of most things here is negociable...even hotel rooms! You have to ask for less when you buy anything off of the street or in the markets. Like the other day, I had to buy a birthday present, so I wanted to get this transformer, and she told me it was 35 bolivianos. I didn't have that much so she sold it to me for 30!

7. Most red lights are optional! Except the ones where the police are standing....the police stand on some corners and manually change the lights from green to yellow to red! To pull you over, they blow a whistle at you and tell you to pull to the side.

6. Alot of places will accept dollars! But they have to be fresh off the press...speaking of which, I see a lot of fake money down here (they post it in the store windows so they know what it looks like) and I saw a $50 bill with Abraham Lincoln on it.

5. They still use typewriters and rotary dial phones! I had to go to the police for some of my immigration paperwork and they typed my information with a real typewriter...lining up the spaces and everything. We have a rotary phone at our house in Cota Cota.

4. Paper and plastic are precious commodities...they really do have less than 1/4 of the trash that we do back home, because they reuse everything. Trash cans are even smaller. Any box or plastic bag that something comes in will be reused. I still can't find trash bags in the stores and they don't have zip loc bags either. Paper is mostly bought by the piece...like construction paper or computer paper....not in big packages.

3. The fruits are all natural...Grapes all have seeds...so do watermelons...carrots are big and chuncky and you have to peel them. Bananas have brown spots (I asked Juan Pablo why they all have brown spots and he told me because they are real.)

2. Don't flush the toilet paper. The infrastructure is not the same here so every bathroom has a small trashcan where you are supposed to put the paper. Yes, gross.

1. Most importantly, always carry toilet paper with you. Rarely do you find toilet paper or paper towels in the bathrooms. Sometimes you even have to pay .50 cents to use a bathroom! There nothing worse then having no toilet paper right?