Moley moley FUCKING MOLER

So I am in La Paz. The biggest city, though not the capital, of Bolivia. I wasn`t expecting great things, and the fumes and traffic that greeted me confirmed it was indeed going to be a hectic few days. Well, I planned for it to only be 1 night and then to head to Coroico towards the Amazon... but then there was my tooth. My fucking moler.

I walked to the hostel recommended by my friend, who said it was a "really cool, cheap hippie place" so on that, I was pretty keen to check it out. The hostel that my amigovio was staying at was a bit further to walk with my backpack, and a bit more expensive. Also had hideous reviews online so...

No problems about a room with no reservation, there was plenty of space and even a bed with my friend. For 25bs a night, I really couldn`t complain BUT I didn`t really have a reason to complain... the rooms were super cool, painted top to tail in graffiti from previous guests and with an open courtyard and relaxed vibe in general. I knew I would find it pretty easy to stay here...

I had a pill like Zanex from my friend in order to get some sleep, and after a few hours of zonked-outness, I woke to be invited to go to the Valley of the Moon. Some place on the city fringe. Sweet, sounds good. We got into one of the many minivans that serve as buses here (there are also buses but they are less common) and rode up one of the many mountains to the valley. These buses are so funny, every time they slow down a person yells out the door where they go and anyone going the same way just jumps in. At first I thought they were just yelling obscenities at me but alas... it was just work.

Bought some more pills at a pharmacy, which also didn`t work, and tried not to think about the pain while we were at the valley. The valley... WOW. Amazing formations of clay in deep gorges, stalictyte-like statuettes, just like the crater of a moon - hence the name. But the biggest problem was that they charged an entry fee to see the main part.

Not a problem for us. We just found where the fence stopped and walked in that way. I did feel kinda mean so I just stayed on the perimeter with cute little artesan F from Argentina, but the others walked all the way in and then stupidly walked out the entrance, when they got stopped by the guards asking why they didn`t pay. Blah blah blah, not my problem - IDIOTS.

By this stage, I was in a lot of pain and needed a dentist - pronto. F came with me back to the centre and we walked around until we found the cheap area for dentists, and she helped to translate what I needed. First we had to wait in a specific dentist for a radiograph, then take that radiograph to another dentist, and then they had to make the decision.

Well, at it turned out, the decision was to remove the moler altogether. Fun times. So I was plonked into a chair, with not much choice about the matter if it meant the pain would stop, and promised "20 minutes". Yeah, RIGHT! Over 2 hours later, I was squirming and squealing about the whole situation, feeling very little because I demanded more more MORE anaesthetic, but ultimately scared out of my wits because this shouldn`t take so long. No way. And the way they were pulling at the tooth... it was a horrendous sound.

Safe to say, that was the most horrible experience of my entire 3 hours of traveling, and I am glad it is over. And that I came out alive. I just hope all this medication they`ve lumped onto me actually works and nothing more comes of it. Just gotta get the stitches out next week and all is dandy.

I think I will stay until after the weekend now, because it should be quite a party, and then leave Sunday or Monday. Although I found out there is cholita wrestling, which is the traditional Bolivian women actually wrestling like WWF. Sounds bloody entertaining to me. And it`s on Sunday. So...hmmm...

So needless to say, this was an early night for me. I couldn`t even walk up the hills back to the hostel, had to get a cab, and couldn`t find any banks to take my card and pay back F for the operation. This was to be a continuing problem in the ensuing days... hijo de puta.