The Highest Capital in The World

The houses of La Paz have outgrown the valley.

Crazy stairs - Pre-Cable Car.

Basilica de San Francisco.

The overnight bus from from Sucre to La Paz went without incident - exactly what you want on an overnight bus. The only problem I've had on these buses, apart from the crappy nights sleep, is the temperature. It is near on impossible to get it right - you freeze one night as you're wearing shorts, and your jacket can only cover your top or bottom, neither allowing you to sleep. Next bus, you know you're going to do it right this time, and wear your hiking boots, long pants and your jacket, only to wake up in the middle of the night sweating out of your eyeballs along with the rest of the full bus. No air-con and no windows. Isn't travel so romantic? This trip was somewhere in the middle, but I didn't get much sleep due to the beeping horn and crazy, blind-corner overtaking of the driver all night. The view from the window as I woke up was something though - coming down from the mountains and seeing the city of La Paz down in the valley.

La Paz - the Administrative Capital of Bolivia.

Rats with wings!!

A baby left sleeping in a store... and safe.

La Paz, it's full name being "La Nuestra Señora de La Paz" (Our Lady of Peace), is Bolivia's 3rd most populated city with 2.4 million, and is also the highest capital city in the World at 3,660m. I have always been confused about which city is the capital, as Sucre is the "Official Capital" and centre of justice, but La Paz is the "Administritive Capital." Coming down from the neighbourhood of El Alto, you can see the 'bowl' that the city sits in, and also how it has outgrown that and climbed all over the surrounding mountains. There is also a snow-covered mountain with 3 peaks called Illimani, which looks like a huge guardian over the city. So far I was impressed by Bolivia, and La Paz wasn't letting me down either. I didn't have very high expectations to be honest, but sometimes that is a good thing. Low expectations for hostels is also something you should take with you wherever you go - you will be impressed with the good ones and meet the bad with a casual shrug of the shoulders and think 'I expected nothing less.' The latter was my case for me first place in La Paz, but worse that my low expectations.

La Paz street art.

Street Art in La Paz.

The hostel I had booked before arriving was the LOKI Hostel, known as a party hostel. Built in an old hotel, my "dorm room" was a small hotel room jam-packed with bunk bed full of sleeping drunks. The rest of the space was filled with discarded plastic cups and half-empty bottles of booze. The toilet in the bathroom had dried vomit on the rim and an unpleasant smell coming from somewhere else. I sat down on my bed and starting to think about what I'd done, when one of the guys in the room decided to lie in my bed and just look at me. I told him it was my bed and ask him to move, and he shuffled off to his own bed, eyes glazed over and still fully clothed from last night's partying. I checked out after this - the reception didn't really ask any questions, as I'm sure they've had it all. The view from the restaurant/bar on the 13th story had a nice view, but this was not the place I wanted to be, even more so as it was Valentine's Day and there was going to be a 'speed dating' session here, and you know what you get when you mix backpackers with booze and Valentine's Day. I did not want to be sleeping there.

Never take photos of kids in Bolivia.

the "Bombin" or "bowler" hat.

I headed off into the city, heading for breakfast first. I found some 'Salteñas,' or Bolivian empanads, and ate them while making my way to the cathedral. One thing that I found a little different to other South American cities was the lack of a Plaza de Armas. Other cities, even Conce, has this main plaza - a square with gardens and on the edge a church and some sort of Government building. La Paz's Cathedral, the Basilica de San Francisco, is on the main road with buses and cars wizzing past. It makes a great people watching place, and this city is full of interesting people - local women wearing colourful clothes or old fashioned skirts and bowler hats. The Quechua people, the natives of Bolivia and Peru, have been wearing these hats since the 20's, and it is now very traditional and it shows off your social status too. Called a Bombin in Spanish, they were introduced by rail road workers, as they were popular with the working class in Britain and also Cowboys in the US. The story behind the size, as none of them seem to fit properly on these women, is that they were shipped over and were too small for the people here - the hat salesman, being a true salesman, said that this was how there were meant to be. They locals believed him and have been wearing them ever since, the wrong size. They used to be made in Italy and imported, but they are no made locally.

The local public transport.

Love potions!

Shoe shiners.

There is main square in the city, surrounded by the Government buildings, and packed with pigeons. A great place to watch people and take photos of people being mauled by those little grey rats-with-wings. Kids don't seem to mind them, and I even saw one little kid pick one up and carry it off ("Mummy, can I keep it?"). Another thing to be noted about the people here are the shoe-shiners. In Chile you get your boots done for $1, and it's all very legit and out in the open - here they were balaclavas, as I found out, to hide their shame for shining shoes for a living. It is legal, and I often saw police officers or soldiers getting your boots polished, but these people don't want anyone to know who they are, and that they have to stoop so low in society to support their family. A sad story. Another place in the city to see is the square where the famous La Paz prison sits, The San Pedro Prison. Made famous by the book "Marching Powder," written by an Australian author who recounts the time a British man who did some time there, and even offered tours to tourists. The gaol itself is nothing to look at, big imposing walls and a huge steel gate, but inside it is a city onto itself - the inmates rent or buy their accommodation, and if you don't have money you sleep wherever and probably don't last long. The 1,500 prisoners here often live with their wives and kids, but it is famous for the drug deals that go on in there, and they have mobiles and contacts on the outside even. They keep their own 'law' and often kill each other, and nobody seems to know or care, certainly not the local authorities. You can do tours of the prison still today, and I was offered one by a strange man in the plaza, who called himself Magic Mike. I was very polite and refused due to lack of time, bit I took a 'business card' and said if I had the time he was my guy. I still have his number if anyone is in La Paz and wants to risk their life. The tour, even with Magic Mike, is not recommended, although people still do it.

The main square with the pigeons.

What a mess!

The main road in La Paz.

Just up the hill (all of La Paz is a 'hill"), there is the famous Witch's Market. Here you can find all the hand-made things typical from Bolivia and the rest of South America - the same store selling Alpaca socks, gloves and hats, small stone statues of Pachamama and other little trinkets travellers like, such as bracelets. One store however had slightly more interesting things on sale. The guy had the usual run-of-the-mill things, but also a fine variety of love potions and ointments to make you perform in bed. One, my favourite, was called "polvo - lenga de perro," or "dog tongue powder," and I was consumed with curiosity as to what this was and had to ask - "is it made from dog?" "No señor, you rub it on your hand, shake somebody's hand, then they following you around like a dog." Mystery solved. Walking the streets I loved just watching all the modes of transport used here. Old American school buses chugged up and down these hills, their big Chev motors still going strong after 50 years of carrying around chubby little American school kids, now carrying around far too many at a time around the city, up and down it's hilly streets. There are also mini-vans and taxis, all of which had seen better days and again, carrying far more than was ever intended by the Japanese engineer that built them. Riding these are fun - they are so cheap, costing only 1.5 Bolivianos (30c), and also fun, as you can read the signs on the front and ask the driver, but you are never sure where they go!

Women wearing traditional clothes, as well as those 'sacks' that they use for everything, including babies.

The cemetery which is under the cable cars.

A condor at the animal sanctuary.

A good way of seeing the city is the Teleferico, or cable car system. For 3 Bolivianos (60c), you can go right to the top of the city and get The View from the top. Although you don't want to wander far from the station, as these parts of the city aren't the safest for tourists, you can really see the city for what it is, and also see the crazy-steep stairs that people used before the cable cars were built 2014. I also got to see a bit of out the city too, and stayed in a small town 30mins away from the hustle and bustle, thanks to a good friend who was living there for a while. A chance to get out of the city and see the other is is always welcome, and I used this chance to visit the local zoo, which is more like an animal sanctuary. Although I have seen condors in the wild and up quite close, nothing compared to seeing these huge birds in a place like this. Although caged, they had room and were fed well. Some people don't like these places as all animals should be free, but zoos are important today for many reasons, including education, breeding of endangered animals and rehabilitation of sick and injured. There were many animals here, including lions and even llamas, but the condors were the best. Another thing to do near La Paz is the Valle de la Luna, or Moon Valley. Although not super exciting, it is cool to see the rock and sand formations that happen in Bolivia. There were no real explanation, other than signs that read 'this way' and 'exit,' but still the peaceful walk in the sunshine and with a great view of the mountains behind was worth it.

"Mummy, can we keep him?"

There is so much to talk about regarding this city - I don't know why I liked it so much really. The culture? The people? The big difference between Bolivian cities and Chilean and Argentine ones? I can't quite put my finger on it really, but I love Bolivia. Uyuni obviously set a high standard, but Sucre followed up with some great stuff to see and do, and so far I hadn't been disappointed very much at all - the country was cheap, the people friendly, the weather very agreeable (I was so tired of the cold in the south!) and the food hasn't made me sick! I had one last destination in this colourful and interesting country before heading off to the next country on the list - Peru. I would be getting an early morning bus from La Paz and heading on to Copacabana, which sits on Lake Titikaka. Not the Copacabana from the song, which is actually in Brazil, but still the song was bouncing around in my head for days.

The mountains that circle the city of La Paz.