Enjoying Bolivia 165Once a year, the Plaza is the scene of a celebration of the
Day of the Sea.
Plaza Abaroa is also the practising ground for festival
dancers. On any given weekend, the chance is you’ll
encounter free entertainment. The neighbours living in the
high rise condominiums around the Plaza have memorised
the festival songs that perpetually fi ll the air and would rather
hear a telephone busy signal or a dripping faucet.
In the blocks to the north and east of Plaza Abaroa is
La Paz’s night club and café district. Café Montmartre, by
the Alliance Française, Thelonious Jazz Bar, Matheus Bar,
Andrómeda and Café Equinoccio are a few upscale places
with good, down-to-earth jazz, rock ’n’ roll, traditional Bolivian
folk music, Latin music and an occasional classical string
quartet. Políticos hang out in Matheus, while the younger
crowd at Café Montmartre is treated to a perpetual blue haze
of smoke doubtlessly imported from a Paris café.
Not Always What it Seems
The skirts of upper Sopocachi are beaded with outdoor staircases.
A friend who took a room with a view in that area complained that,
when he needed a tube of toothpaste from the grocers, he had to
go down 68 steps, and then back up. You think you’re living on the
second fl oor, but in reality, you’re living on the seventh fl oor of an
eight-storey walkup.At the foot of upper Sopocachi, along Avenida Ecuador, are
a number of fi ne art galleries, including Simón I. Patiño and
the Solón Foundation (Ecuador at Rosendo Gutiérrez) and
Museo Marina Nuñez del Prado, several blocks north.
A short, steep hike above Plaza Abaroa will take you to El
Montículo, a tree shaded hill, with a popular wedding chapel.
El Montículo is a hangout for proletarian picnickers with
spectacular views of Mount Illimani and the rugged foothills
around the south suburbs.
Sunday Refuge
The south-east quadrant, primarily occupied by the