Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
scratch), the varied menu includes sublime sushi and sashimi, and great tempura.
Tues-Sat
noon-2.30pm & 7-10pm, Sun noon-3pm.
DRINKING AND NIGHTLIFE
Withmoreandmore
gringo-friendly
nightlife springinguparoundCalles Linares, Tarijaand
Murillo, as well as the in-house hostel bars, it seems there aren't nearly so many travellers
frequenting the designer haunts of
Sopocachi
as there once were. La Paz's
club
scene isn't
the most cutting edge, moreover, with numbingly generic Latin pop, rock, salsa,
cumbia
and
Eighties music commonplace. You'll find genuine Latin jazz/salsa, Brazilian, world, reggae,
house, hip hop, techno, drum'n'bass and rock music if you look hard enough, however, and a
forthcoming city-centre club from the loose grouping of restaurateurs and bar owners known
as
4corners
(
4cornerslapaz.com
) looks promising. For the lowdown on visiting interna-
tional DJs, Spanish-readers should seek out the free magazine
beats
, while the free, English-
language
Bolivian Express
(
bolivianexpress.org
) usually has at least some coverage of La
Paz nightlife in general.
THANK GOD IT'S (BACHELOR) FRIDAY
La Paz is generally fairly quiet on weekday evenings, but explodes into life on
Friday
nights
- known as
viernes de solteros
(bachelor Fridays) - when much of the city's male
population goes out drinking. In the city centre - and above all in the market district along
Max Paredes and Avenida Buenos Aires - there are countless rough-and-ready
whiskerías
and
karaoke bars
where hard-drinking, almost exclusively male crowds gather to drown
their sorrows in beer and
chufflay
, a lethal mix of
singani
and lemonade, while playing
cacho
, a popular dice game, or singing along to the latest Latin pop songs. Going out to
these popular bars is certainly a very authentic Bolivian experience and can be great fun,
but as a foreigner you should expect to attract a good deal of attention and be prepared
to drink until you drop - refusing an invitation from a fellow drinker is considered rather
rude. For women, such places are best avoided altogether.
Café Concert Luna Llena
Av Ecuador 2582 02 2418151;
map
.
Housed in an atmospher-
ically renovated colonial pile, this cultural centre-cum-café-bar claims the cheapest beer in
Sopocachi, including Saya and the quinoa-brewed Lipeña. The walls are routinely lined with
works by some of La Paz's best young artists and photographers and, as well as literature and
poetry readings, a busy live music programme runs the gamut from flamenco to heavy metal.
Mon-Fri 9am-3am.
Diesel Nacional
Av 20 de Octubre 2271, between Rosendo Gutiérrez and Fernando Guach-
