La Paz: Valle de las Animas and More

We arrived at 2 am on a Saturday night.  The roads were empty except when the taxi passed one of many discotecas.  Suddenly there would be a small traffic jam before we were the only car again.  We quickly discovered most of the shops and restaurants were closed on Sunday. Thus, it was a perfect day to explore the neighborhood around our hotel, the Atix.  After a few wrong turns, we ate a lovely lunch at Typical Cafe.

The following day we arranged a taxi to take us to the Valle de las Animas (Valley of the Souls).  After about 30 minutes of driving on paved, cobble and dirt roads, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and said we arrived. There was no signs, but we noticed a path up the side of the mountain.  We hike up to see a 360 degree view and later learned this area is popular for weekend parties.

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When we returned to the taxi, he drove us to another location even more remote and pointed to a dirt road. After walking down the road, the rock formations reached for the sky.  It was breathtaking.  The Valle de las Animas got its name because visitors believed the spires looked like petrified souls.

We got dropped off on Calle Jean, a colonial street with brightly colored houses dating from the 18^th century and walked through el Mercado de las Brujas (the Witches’ Market). We ended the evening with a dinner of cuñapés, humintas (tamales), sonzos and masacos at Los Qñapes.  We made the restaurant’s Facebook page-probably because we tried all of the vegetarian dishes on the menu!