Gay Pride in La Paz

I will never forget the time that we ended up in a gay pride parade in La Paz.

Through a Bolivian friend, we knew that the parade was going to happen, and we were super excited to attend. Saturday night, 7pm. Ok, we'll be there.

When we met up with this friend, we quickly realized that WE were going to be in the parade. We were given different colored t-shirts and were thrown on the back of a parade float that was decorated with a rainbow of balloons. I was leaning on the speaker, trying not to fall off the back of the truck, and the bass vibrated through my body as we toured through the streets of La Paz on our way to the Prado, the main street.

We made it to the Prado and all got off the float. When the other floats met up with us, we were all given flags and pom-pons and the music started and we were off! We danced down the Prado, and thousands of people gathered along the street to watch.

I was afraid that we were going to meet a lot of hecklers and protesters, but we didn't see any! The coolest thing was seeing the cholitas and the little children smiling and waving their rainbow flags. I was so impressed to see the support from the people in La Paz. I had thought this whole time that no one in La Paz really supported or respected LGBT individuals. This really changed my mind about the people here. Of course, the gay community is still kept under wraps, and it is really difficult to be gay here, as in many places in Latin America. But this event showed me that there is hope for the future in La Paz. I was so proud to be a part of this event. I never thought this was going to be part of my experience while working here. It was definitely one of my favorite nights so far.