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Published: September 9th 2010
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La Paz is the highest capital city in the world (assuming you don’t count Lhasa in Tibet, and even though Sucre is technically the official capital of Bolivia), and has a picturesque location in a valley close to the snow-covered Cordillera Real mountains. As I wanted to climb one of these mountains, I had to spend a few days in La Paz acclimitising before attempting the trek. Although La Paz is a nice enough city, there aren’t that many standard attractions. A few parts of the city centre are quite nice, above all the Plaza Murillo, where the Cathedral, Presidential Palace and the Legislative Assembly are situated. Near to here is one of the few remaining preserved colonial streets in the city, Calle Jaen, which is also where many of the museums are located. The other main square in the city, Plaza San Francisco, adorned with the impressive San Francisco Church, is less tranquil, with the main thoroughfare of the city, known as El Prado, cutting through the middle of the square. From El Prado, roads on both sides head up either side of the valley; consequently there are virtually no flat areas in the city. The more affluent areas
are located in the lowest parts of the city (from 3100m above sea level) whilst the poorest neighbourhoods sprawl up the valley walls and on to the plateau above the city, reaching 4000m. The satellite city of El Alto, which sits on the plateau above La Paz actually now has a larger population than La Paz itself; the La Paz metropolitan area has around 2 million residents in total (or a fifth of the Bolivian population).
Because La Paz sits in a bowl, there are some fantastic miradores (viewpoints). Every time you want to leave the city, you need to pass through El Alto, at the top of the bowl, where there are stunning views of the city as well as the mountains in the background, including Illimani, which is the second highest in Bolivia (just under 6500m). Within the city itself, Laikacota Park sits on a small hill with fantastic views of the city centre. Besides this, and a few other museums, there isn’t a great deal to see or do. That said, I quite liked the city’s quirkiness. Every street is packed with cholitas (Andean women wearing petticoats, a bowler hat and with a colourful blanket swung
over their back, often holding a baby). Every street is jammed with traffic, mostly old US school buses and minibuses which form the city’s public transport network, with the conductors constantly shouting out their destinations. One street, Calle Ságarnaga, is known as “gringo alley” as it and the surrounding area are packed with dozens of tour agencies, handicraft shops, hostels and restaurants, all clearly aimed at tourists rather than locals. Some of the restaurants have amazingly good quality for such a good price, and even they’re considered expensive compared to the restaurants most locals use.
Just outside of La Paz were a couple of interesting sites. As organised tours are relatively inexpensive and include a guide as well as transport, I booked two, rather than relying on public transport. The first day tour visited two sites just outside La Paz - La Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) and Chacaltaya. La Valle de la Luna is located in the lowest part of the city itself, in the upmarket South Zone, and is essentially an area with strange rock formations, caused by water erosion (see photos). We were only at the park for an hour, but due to the La
Paz traffic and the fact that our bus kept breaking down, we didn’t arrive at our other stop of Chacaltaya until 1pm. Chacaltaya is a mountain in the Cordillera Real, and one of the few high mountains where you can drive to near the top, where a scientific research station is located. The bendy road reached 5300m above sea level, 150m below the highest of the three peaks. To reach the peak, it was a 40 minute climb, from where there were unparalleled views of La Paz, El Alto, coloured lagoons nestled at the base of the mountain, Lake Titicaca 75km away in the distance and other mountains including Huayna Potosí and Illimani,. Spectacularly beautiful. And the short walk gave me a taste of what walking at such a high altitude is like, convincing me to sign up to trek to the top of the taller Huayna Potosí.
The other organised tour I took was to the archeological complex of Tiwanaku. The ruins are one of the most important in the Americas, as Tiwanaku was the precursor to many other civilisations, including the Inca Empire. Tiwanaku was the dominant force in Bolivia and southern Peru for two and a
half millennia until around 1200ad when it suddenly collapsed, probably from drought. Not that much is known about the civilisation, and the ruins (located 20km from Lake Titicaca, about 2 hours from La Paz) are not as impressive as other ones I’ve seen, as only the ceremonial centre has been uncovered. Nevertheless a worthwhile and interesting visit.
After having spent 5 days in La Paz acclimitising, I was ready to tackle Huayna Potosí. The next blog will come from there.
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