La Paz - a safe, hilly, colourful city, vendors selling high quality products

---

To me La Paz felt very safe as long as you are careful crossing traffic and can manage steep hills. I think that it’s safe because it seems that everybody is so busy working selling their local produce and concerned about making money as that is mainly what La Paz is for, that they don’t have time to commit crime. I also don't think distraction techniques using mustard and ketchup have arrived here yet, it is not developed enough, and frankly the chaos in the streets is such that nobody has a free second to rob anybody.

I find the costumes worn by the indigenous women are colourful and make for an expressive, fascinating city. In fact, everything in the street is colourful, from costumes to fruit and vegetables.

There is plenty of opportunity to eat fresh, homemade food because that is mainly what is on offer. As there are no high street brands or big American companies here, all vendors specialise in one particular type of products. This causes prices to be cheap as it generates a lot of competition, and as most products are hand-made rather than made my big multinational companies, the quality is the best, the vendors are proud and the money goes straight to the producers. If the person own land they come to La Paz with their meat and milk fresh from the cows that very morning, and same for any other food. Everything is made fresh there and then. In my opinion it is a beautiful way of life, one to be cherished and taken on board by European countries.

The city of La Paz is built on a hill. Many houses were built in a similar way to those in Valparaiso, on slants on the mountains with badly wired cables. Here, the rich people live on the flatland in the city and tend to be professionals according to Ronald, whereas the poor live further up in the mountains. Pacenos (people from La Paz) are supposedly the wealthiest Bolivians as they own the most land.

---