La Paz. The last big city I am visiting in South America. If you followed my blog so far, you know that I am not a big fan of cities in general, nor specifically those in South America. Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Valparaiso… after just 2 days I was generally fed up.
La Paz is different. Crazy. Full of people and parades. Of colours. Of contrasts. Of people selling food everywhere and anywhere. Of cars and buses. Sourrounded by high mountains and spectacular landscape while also not being far from the jungle. It also lacks a few things. Oxygen. Money. Water in dry season. I cannot quite tell why but I actually enjoyed La Paz!
View from my room in the hostel. My initial plane was to hike around the majestic Illampu Volcanoe (some 6000m altitude) in about a week. But I had not only problems with the altitude, the weather was also quite bad with loads of snow.
The city extends from 3,600m to 4,000m altitude
The streets of La Paz are full of busses, traffic jams everywhere. Evo Morales decided to have these telefericos installed in La Paz. Several lines are in place, others are still being built. It’s public transport (and not for tourists only!) and so cheap that Bolivian’s use it (20 cents a ride) and you even have to queue to get in at rush hour.After taking the red teleferico from La Paz center up to Alto, we continued in the blue line. It doesn’t gain elevation, instead it floats above the streets, houses, backyards. It’s fantastic but also feels absurd. We are sitting in a modern bubble, looking down at the poverty…We also took the yellow line, just because it’s so much fun!
In Bolivia you have to eat and try everything. So many different flavors to discover!
API – a hot purple corn drink served with pastel, a fluffy thin pastry filled with cheese
A kind of pancake made of yucca and cheese
Papas rellenas – stuffed potatoes
Some typical drink made of infused dried peach
Saltenas. My favourite dish. It’s slightly sweet dough filled with amazing meat or vegetarian filling, usually with a lot of sauce so very hard to eat as the sauce spills out 😉
There’s always some kind of parade going on. People seem to love being outside, dancing, making music, marching….
The streets of La Paz are awesome, something fun to discover everywhere 😉
Some balloons transported at the back of a van, why not?
These guys are in a few big towns, they educate drivers to be more careful and pay attention to pedestrians for exampleNope, didn’t eat anything here
At the witch market, Lama fetus should be burried beneath a new house for luck…
Finally, we also went to see the Vallé de la Luna, a 45 minute ride by bus outside of the town. It was quite spectacular but also very touristy and unfortunately starting to disappear with all the buildings.
And then, just like this, my time-out has come to an end and I am flying back home. A 36 hour flight with 2 stop overs, the cheapest flight I could get booking 4 days ahead.
Best moment for a window seat: Sunrise and beautiful mountains!
Miami ♥ Home ♥ I love you my friends and missed you so much!
Hello Mountains 
Good for you, Tina. I hope Germany hasn’t changed too much while you were away. Thanks for sharing your travels and happy homecoming.
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Hi Colin, no, the good thing about coming home is that it feels as if you’ve never been away, good friends always stay good friends. Thank you!
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I’ve enjoyed following your South American journeys!
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Thank you Anna!
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