La Paz

Walking out of work past the massive map of the world on the wall of the Geography dept I spotted La Paz and was reminded of a great family story.

My parternal grandmother's family were rich Sephardi Jews, who settled in Cairo at the turn of the century. They attached themselves to the French ex-pat community there, and my grandmother and her 6(?) siblings led a life of wealth and ease. In the fifties, however, the rise of Egyptian nationalism meant they had to escape, and they all did, on a variety of fake passports. My great uncle Albert (pronounce it Al-bere) managed to get hold of some fake Bolivian passports for him and his wife and children. So he packed them off ("to see if the passports would work" according to my dad) by train, and as the train was departing his wife was heard shouting, in a panic, "Albert, Albert, what's the capital of Bolivia???"

Anyway, they made it safely and all the siblings eventually settled in France and England. And I think of them whenever I see La Paz.