La Paz and Farewell

This morning we visited the Valley of the Moon which received its name after Neil Armstrong apparently visited the site and remarked how the landscape resembled that of the moon.  It isn’t actually a valley at all, but a maze of canyons and giant spires. The formations, composed mainly of clay and sandstone, were created by the persistent erosion of mountains by the area’s strong winds and rains.

We then proceeded to the Bolivian National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore,  a public non-profit institution dedicated to Bolivia’s ethnic diversity, the promotion of research into Bolivia’s ethnology and the preservation and expansion of its cultural artifacts collection.  Spread across two buildings is a wide collection of works including pre-Hispanic relics, colonial and contemporary festival masks, Andean ceramics, elegant fabrics, feathered costumes, weapons used throughout history and coins of Bolivia.

One of the highlights of the museum is the 3000 Years of Textiles exhibit which highlights the elaborate colored skirts, blankets and tapestries woven by the indigenous people of Bolivia.

We also observed a short Bolivian music and dance cultural performance.

We then ventured into the Witch Market, a historic market in La Paz where vendors sell products and perform rituals to bring health, love, intelligence, etc. and manipulate the many "sprits" that populate their culture.  They also have dried llama fetuses which are "offered" to the "Pachamama" (Mother Earth) by burying them under the foundations of new homes for protection, health, happiness and good luck. 

Tonight we had our farewell dinner (a five-course Bolivian inspired meal with wine parings) at GUSTU, a local  gourmet restaurant created by Claus Meyer, the co-founder of Noma in Copenhagen which is one of the top rated restaurants in the world.  The view from our airplane window was a perfect ending.