Sunday, June 13: Confusion all abound

We quickly make our way past a true example of third-world Customs, pick up our travel bags and head for the arrivals hall. Almost immediately we spot a Bolivian man in leather jacket, wearing a sign saying “Blandine Bouniol”. Nice, we’re 40 minutes from laying our dead bodies on a comfortable bed in the Eva Palace Hotel. I picked this hotel because of its good reviews, central location, and comfortable looking queen size beds.

Walking through the doors of the airport, we feel the serious drop in temperature, it must be 5C. A jacket is no luxury. I hop in the front seat to have a little chat with the cab driver, giving Blandine more space to sleep in the back seat. The driver is happy to have someone to chat with and gives a nice overview of La Paz on the half hour drive down to the city. Red lights are of little importance, they serve as a reminder to slow down a bit and honk to make cars in sidestreets aware of his presence. Luckily Blandine is vast asleep, she’d freak out otherwise. The driver stops downtown, in front of the Hotel Rosario. Hotel Rosario? No, we have no time to be scammed, we’re going to the Eva Palace, mister! And how did you know the name of my girlfriend? I made the reservation in name of “Mr. Kuyl, party of 2”! Blandine’s woken up and looks at me with disbelief as she becomes aware of the situation. Then she figures out the confusion. She had made a reservation, in her name, with this hotel, but the hotel never confirmed. While the cab driver explains this to the hotel manager, a few drunk teenagers with heavy English accent try to get into the cab. It’s Saturday night and they’re thousands of miles away from their parents, so who’s going to stop them from being obnoxious? When they notice the tall, serious Belgian who is not about to play along with their nonsensical blabbering, they give up, slam the door of the cab, and stagger on to the other side of the street. The driver has finished his story, and leans back into the cab, asking how we see things. “We want to go to the Eva Palace, to honour our confirmed reservation, and we’ll tell the front desk to call back the guy who is holding the “Welcome, Mr. Kuyl, party of 2” sign." I discuss a rate of USD 10 with the driver, so we end up saving money over the USD 15 rate I had agreed upon with Eva Palace. A thunder cloud with a silver lining.

Once arrived, I quickly explain the whole misunderstanding to the Eva Palace clerk and get him to waive the Eva Palace taxi service. He’s less than happy about it, but hey at least we spend three nights in his hotel? It’s 1:30AM (that’s 6:30AM in Belgium) thank you very much, so no need to have long chats. We quickly switch to long-sleeved T-shirts and long underwear in our radiator-less cold room, then glide into bed, under several layers of blankets. No need to count lamas, in a matter of seconds we’re vast asleep.

We wake up around noon, way too late for the free breakfast, and decide on a nearby café to find our bearings. “Sol y Luna” is a pleasant café, with great food and beer. It’s decorated with orange flags to support the Dutch during their World Cup experience, so I greet the blonde, blue-eyed waiter in Dutch. He replies “Oh no, the owner is Dutch, I’m Polish.” We order in English, just before the Germany – Australia game begins. During the game we befriend Rob and Chris, an Australian couple celebrating the last days of their honeymoon. It is not necessary to console either of them after the 4-0 wipe-out: she’s actually from New Zealand and Rob’s an England fan. We end up spending most of this slow day in this café, it’s an intended slow day to get used to the altitude and plan our trip a bit more. The World Cup makes me forget all about the other high-level championship final being played on the Belgian political field. I didn’t vote, so I’ll have to live with the result, but that’s something to worry about in 4 months time.

We head back to the hotel around 7PM and spend the evening taking it easy in our hotel room. Blandine’s got a headache, most probably due to the altitude, and I got a little pressure on my head too, but can't tell if it's altitude disease or the local beer. We'll start our sightseeing tomorrow.