Jenny in Bolivia: My Selfie Stick Makes Its Debut

On Saturday we set out to hike La Muela Del Diablo (The Devil's Tooth). I have to say that if it wasn't for Alison's research on how to get there, I don't think we would have made it. Thanks amiga! We took the Teleferico to Zona del Sur of La Paz where we needed to hop on minibus 288. There are tons of vans here with different numbers and routes called minibuses. You can ride them for 2 or 3 bolivianos, the equivalent to 30 or 40 cents in the US. We were lucky and found the 288 quickly and took it up some bumpy roads to a town closer to La Muela del Diablo, where we would begin our hike. During the start of our walk we saw probably 10 or more dogs that at one point all started barking at once. Besides the rowdy dogs, the town was very quiet and peaceful. The views were incredible even before we saw the Devil's tooth. We kept looking back to look at how far we had come. We took a selfie with my selfie stick :) once we got to the entrance of Chiaraque, the small village located in front of the Muela del Diablo. From there we hiked further to the base of the Muela. But on the path we were confronted by an angry aggressive dog. Alison had her rock just in case he tried to advance but luckily he let us pass. When we arrived at the base of the Muela, we took a quick snack and water break and enjoyed the view. I decided to climb up the Muela while Alison waited for me below. I made it back in one piece and we hiked back down and caught a minibus to our house. We were greeted by our newest roommate, Clark! He had come from a program in Tarija where I will be going after La Paz. Clark is a fourth year med student like Alison and he speaks Spanish better than both Alison and I combined. He has already been helping us with some grammar and vocabulary.

One of the barking dogs on our way up

A pretty green patch of grass and a nice view

Selfie with Zona Sur of La Paz

First use of my selfie stick at the entrance of Chiaraque.
Alison was reluctant to use it.

Chiaraque and La Muela del Diablo on the right,
plus a really cool looking rock formation on the left

Me and La Muela del Diablo

Alison has some great photography skills

Chiaraque from the opposite side

Just some grazing sheep

You guessed it... La Muela del Diablo

A well deserved snack break featuring Alison

Selfie stick part 2 when I climbed the Muela.
I was in between the two peaks of the rock formation.

Today, Sunday, we planned to go to Valle de la Luna and a soccer game. Sadly, we found out the soccer game was actually an away game so we couldn't go. But it was a beautiful day and we had great time exploring the Valley of the Moon. Valle de la Luna is located in the Zona Sur of La Paz and is an area with cool rock formations that were formed by the erosion of mountains from wind and rain. Visitors can walk through it on a winding path with stairs and bridges and view points. We took a minibus there and took our time walking through, taking way too many photos of rocks and cacti. Alison even suggested we use my selfie stick again. I think she is coming around. I also tried my first salteña today, a traditional Bolivian food similar to an empanada. Delicious!