Free time

Even though the volunteers and interns come here to work, to learn and to exchange experiences, free time is important as well. The volunteers and interns we have been receiving until now have had a marvelous time in La Paz. You may not think it at first, but La Paz is a great city to go out in, there is something for everyone that they will surely like. Except for going out, there are a lot of sports here; especially spinning classes and salsa lessons. Some people like to go swimming or go to the gym. Riding around on your bicycle is not really possible in this busy city, with all its traffic and its impossible steep roads and streets.

Food and beverages

Bolivians like food and drinking. Every region has its own typical food and traditions. It is really a family gathering and a lot of time is set aside for eating and drinking.

The breakfast, desayuno, is quite simple. Tea, coffee or milk, with bread and cheese is most common. But there are also regions where they serve rice with baked bananas and fried eggs. You can have breakfast at every market. Mostly they eat ´api´ or ´tojori´. These are very nutritious warm beverages made of corn with herbs and sugar. It is served with ´buñuelo´, a kind of a flat fritter. In Tarija they call ´buñuelos´ ´sopaipillas´. Another popular snack is an empanada which is a fried pie with cheese.

During the rest of the morning a lot of people eat something warm and light. The favorite is the famous `salteña` (a pie from the oven with meat, some vegetables, boiled egg and an olive). Other possibilities are filled potatoes and in the lowlands a kind of hamburger with boiled yuca (tree root).

The lunch, ´almuerzo´ is the main course. Almost all the shops and offices will close during the afternoon, from around 12.00 ´till 15.00 o’clock! A lot of people eat outdoors in a ´pension´. In the pensions and restaurants ‘almuerzo’ is a set menu served for a set price. An almuerzo familiar is soup, main course and a dessert. An almuerzo ejecutivo is usually a first course, soup, main course, a dessert and coffee or tea. The soup is mainly filled with a lot of vegetables, a little bit of meat, rice, pasta or any other kind of grain. The main course can be anything, but is mostly with a lot of meat and few vegetables. The people here eat a lot of rice and in the highlands they eat a lot of potato and dried potato (chuño). Pasta is very popular, but is not always very tasty. Even though you will find all kinds of vegetables at the markets, they do not eat a lot of vegetables. Vegetables are often used for the soup and furthermore they serve ´salads´, which is not much more than a leaf of lettuce with tomato and onion. Dessert is often some fruit, an orange or a banana. Furthermore they also eat jelly for dessert or some kind of custard with boiled fruits. An almuerzo familiar cost around 5 or 10 bs. (0,50 to 1 Euro) an almuerzo ejecutivo is around 10 and 15 bs. (1 to 1,50 Euros).

Around 4 to 6 o’clock in the evening, a lot of families drink tea In some cases they will not have any dinner anymore. Tea (or coffee) is often served with bread, cheese, sausage, olives or egg. Some of the richer families will buy luxury sandwiches or cakes to go with the tea.

You can order at night in many restaurants and pensions a dinner `cena`. This is often a soup and a main course. Of course it is also possible to order ´a la carte´. This is more expensive. A lot of people, especially the younger ones, eat fried chicken with French fries at night, or a hamburger or pizza. They will not spend more than 6 to 15 bs. for all of this.

You can find vegetarian restaurants in all cities, of very different quality. It is worthwhile trying out all kinds of things around here.

If you are not into a hot lunch, you can make your own lunch in the Dutch style, like bread, ham, cheese, fruit, yoghurt or milk. But you will often pay more for this than eating in a pension!

You can buy fruit everywhere and it is very cheap. Especially during the months of January until April when you can get almost anything: grapes, papaya, mango, peach, figs, apples, pears, bananas, oranges, pineapple, chirimoya, prunes and a lot of avocado.

Most of the volunteers and interns like to try some typical Bolivian meals, but also they often eat in restaurants where they have national and international menus. The coffee and apple pie at Alexander Coffee is famous, llama steak at 100% Natural and fish at Angel Colonial.

For more information concerning the Bolivian kitchen, check our website at ´links´.

Going out

If you go out in the big cities in Bolivia, it is not really that different from Western countries. There are a lot of cafes where people meet for a drink first. They often play cards or dice games. Afterwards they go to a discotheek or karaoke bar. There are a lot of discotheques where you will hear Spanish music (salsa, merengue, cumbia and national music) and there are also places where they will play English music. There is a lot of dancing and drinking.

Especially in La Paz, you will also find different kinds of `traditionele peñas´. These are restaurants where different bands play national music, live on stage. Most of these peñas are not so traditional anymore, and have become accustomed to tourism. It is very nice though to visit one of these peñas.

In the big cities you will find cinemas of reasonable quality. The newest American movies will be shown sooner in South-America than in Europe. Most movies are commercial, American or European.

Bolivia does not have much theatre. But there are some shows that you can find in the local theatres: ballet, drama and poetry and even once in a while some classical music or jazz.

During the whole year there are a lot of national and regional holidays and festivities. We will always let you know when there are certain activities.