La Paz/Tiahuanaco

What a blast. I went to La Paz for a couple of days, mainly to attend the Aymara new year (also the winter solstice) just outside of La Paz, in Tiahuanaco. We were a motley bunch, with 3 Bolivians, 4 Americans, 2 Germans, and 1 Frenchman. We took an a bus from Cbba and got into La Paz just after midnight on Thursday morning, left our bags at our hostel, and headed straight back out to catch a trufi to Tiahuanaco, just under 2 hours away.

When we got there around 3 am, there were already thousands of people eating, drinking, playing music, and huddling around fires to stay warm. At almost 4,000 meters in the middle of the night, it was freezing outside (there was actually frost on backpacks). Tiahuanaco is the site of a park that holds ruins from about 700 AD, predating the Inca in the area. The ruins aren't actually all that impressive, until you see a celebration like this take place and can sort of imagine what it might have been like back in the day.

Since the gates didn't open until 5 am, there was a lot of standing around, jumping up and down to stay warm, etc. When we were finally let in (estimates range from 4-10 thousand people that day, I think it was somewhere in the middle), paths lit by clay lanterns led us up to the "cheap seats" overlooking the central plaza. There was more sitting around, and to keep ourselves busy we chewed coca, offered up wishes to the four winds, and tried to ignore the fact that we couldn't feel all of our digits.

When it finally started to get a bit light out, we could make out the central plaza, where a large fire was ablaze with offerings from the gathered crowd. There was some music, but the real action didn't start until the sun started to show itself, around 7:15 am. At this point, the entire crowd turned to the east and raised their hands to the first sun of the new year, taking in its energy (I got a lot of energy that morning in the form of a sunburn).



Once the sun was up, there were cheers of "Ayaya Bolivia!" (Aymara for "Viva Bolivia!"). The Aymara flag went up (beautiful), an army band played the national anthem, and then the real party started. Everybody flooded the central plaza, Aymara bands played drums and flutes, and we all danced.


Back in La Paz, we spent the next day and a half wandering and eating. It's an amazing city with breathtaking views. A few more pics before I cut off this long post:

Mikaël, Aurélie, Coco, and me in our hostel room.