PB’s Bolivian Birthday…
It was time to celebrate PB’s birthday… and what better place to do so than in La Paz.. La Paz is an AWESOME city – probably our favourite city in Bolivia 🙂
BUT before the birthday fun could begin there were chores to be done… NO this was not revenge for PB’s bad planning of my birthday back in October… it was because we had no choice 🙁 Bolivia has a silly rule whereby you can only renew your visa 5 days before it’s due to expire (why they don’t give you 90 days on arrival rather than make you return to an immigration office every 30 days to renew is beyond me… BUT rules are rules…)
Anyway, all advice on the internet suggests that you don’t leave it until the last possible moment to ask for ‘more days’ – as there is always the possibility that something will go wrong… – and as we were imminently leaving La Paz to head to the countryside which was devoid of an Immigration office – PB’s birthday became synonymous with VISA RENEWAL DAY!!!
When we arrived at the Immigration Office, I have to admit that my heart sank… the line was soooo long it was insane… I feared the worse i.e. spending the whole of PB’s birthday in the immigration office waiting our turn…
It turned out better than we could ever have hoped… the line was just to get a number… and then be told where to go/what to do next… at this stage we got to walk past everyone in the waiting area and go to the back office, where after registering (you’re not allowed in the back office without registering…) we got moved on to the desk where a man looked up at us, said ‘más días?’ (more days?)… we said ‘sí’ (yes) and that was that – PB got a visa stamp for 30 more days for his birthday present 🙂 🙂 I got one too 🙂 🙂
So, chore out of the way, it was time to focus on PB… first things first… he received a ‘one-off’ birthday card… yes, PB’s birthday card was the only one of its kind in existence…
We then got to the important part of the day… riding the famous La Paz teleférico (cable cars)… as the cable cars in La Paz are extremely cool there is a whole post dedicated to them coming soon – you can’t wait, can you ;-)… BUT for now I can tell you that PB really enjoyed riding around on cable cars on his birthday… he was allowed to get out at some of the stations too for a bit of a stroll around – cable car riding and checking out new neighbourhoods – now if you know PB well, then you’ll know that this more than made up for lining up for a visa extension this morning 😉
Zona Sur didn’t have too many (or any) must-see sights… but it was a nice enough neighbourhood to walk around, and there were some pretty nice views 🙂 There was also api – a must for anyone celebrating a birthday in Bolivia…
Then it was time to head back home… we took the yellow line back to Sopocachi where we had a very late BUT delicious lunch…
After lunch we started the walk back to our hostal… there was just one thing remaining to do… find craft beer…. AND I have to say we failed miserably… why is it that it’s okay to drink a crap lager at 5pm (many generic bars were open), BUT it’s not okay to drink an IPA at 5pm (all the craft beer places were closed OR didn’t have an IPA on tap…)
We had to make do with a funky mural instead…
Despite being an alcohol free birthday for PB (it’s not my fault his taste has refined as he’s gotten older and he didn’t want a regular lager or a glass of Bolivian wine (not that I blame him for that one though…) I still claim that PB enjoyed his Bolivian birthday in La Paz 🙂