Touching the sky....

La Paz, Bolivia: At an altitude of over 3600m (11,000ft), nestled in a valley in the shadow of the Cordillera Real (a part of the Andes) lies La Paz, the capital of Bolivia (overlooking for a moment that the judicial capital of Bolivia really is Sucre, but with the palace of the president, the congress, and the vast majority of the people and financial muscle of the country, La Paz is the de-facto capital).

Coming from the small, remote town of Uyuni, the difference could hardly be any more stark. Sure, people still speak Spanish (or Quechua for that matter)and women still wear traditional dresses and boulder hats - but just as common an occurence on the street at they are the businessmen in fine tailored suits and the teenagers in clothes that could put them smack into Buenos Aires, Berlin, or Seattle as well. La Paz is a bustling city with skyscrapers and fast food restaurants (yes, Burger King and McDonalds have made their way here, too), computer stores and movie theaters (I watched Mission Impossible III here).

"The shoestring", how I have heard my comprehensive Lonely Planet "South America" guide being referred to, usually offers a few sound suggestions for accomodation in any given city - but whenever I get the chance I actually follow the recommendations of other fellow travelers for a new city. A guide book is quickly outdated, and people who have just lodged somewhere a few days or weeks ago have usually a better grasp on the current state. So for my accomodation in La Paz I followed the advice given to me by an Argentinean couple during my Salar de Uyuni trip (and they were a nice elderly couple - if they liked the place, it couldn´t be that bad).

The place that I stayed in here was the "Hotel Torino" - smack in the middle of La Paz only half a block from the cathedral and the presidential palace, and right down in the middle of all the action. Renovated in the 50s it probably wasn´t anywhere near what I would have called "nice" in the states, but for here it was more than sufficient - and that for 50 Bolivianos for a single room with private bath (about USD $6), who can complain?

In order to get a better view of the city, I started hiking up one of the slopes of the valley - in the midday heat a very sweaty business, made a bigger challenge by the fact that the air at this altitude contains a lot less oxygen, so you are out of breath really quickly. After I made it about half way up, I wisened up and asked one of the locals which "micro" could get me up the rest of this slope. "Micros" are little mini-buses that have about 9-12 seats and constantly commute between popular places (in my case the cementary and the top of the hill, Ceja), and for 1 Boliviano (about 12 cents) you can hop on and ride along. I had worked my way up this slope for 1.5 hours, and now I learned that for less than a quarter I could have gotten a ride up AND down again! Needless to say that I didn{t waste much time and stopped the next micro going in my direction. The view from above was spectacular (see picture). La Paz appears antirely brown due to the fact that houses made of plain bricks are "finished" without any cover or paint (to me they always appeared as half-finished constructions, until I realized that they were considered done).

Another adventure to be done in La Paz is to visit the Mercado Negro, the black market. While apparently most of the business conducted here these days is legal, that wasn´t always the case. The market is essentially a maze of market stands and boothes that spreads over several blocks selling everything from shoelaces to fleece pullovers, from fish to office supplies. Many streets are completely blocked for traffic and only very narrow walkways allow you to meander through the labyrinth of merchants. Luckily it is really easy to get your bearing in La Paz (since whenever you head downhill you will hit the main throughfare), otherwise many a visitor might get lost in this part of town.

After only two days in La Paz I headed on to Lake Titicaca - excited to yet again move to another famous landmark of South America, yet sad to feel like not having given La Paz the time it deserved (more from the Lake and it´s highlights the next time). Among the cities that I have visited during this trip, La Paz was a definite highlight ranking almost up there with Buenos Aires (and you know how much I loved Buenos Aires).

(Images from La Paz in this gallery.)