La Paz travel guide

Thin on Oxygen yet Steeped in Tradition

Sucre may be the constitutional capital of Bolivia, but La Paz is the country's administrative capital. At an altitude of 3600 meters above sea level - enough to make the strongest lungs gasp for preciously thin oxygen - La Paz is the highest capital city in the world. Whether you arrive in La Paz by air or road, you will come through the urban sprawl of the El Alto neighborhood, formed as the city spilled over the edges of the deep valley in which it is located. The notion of building a city of two million people this high seems absurd; that gold was once found in the Choqueyapu River goes a long way to explaining the anomaly. Despite wonderful colonial churches and plazas and strikingly modern buildings, La Paz still has the feel of an indigenous locale, due to the vast majority of its citizens being either Quechua or Aymara. Up the steep hills is a traditional "witches market," where tourists can purchase a llama fetus, a dried toad, and all manner of fertility aids. Just outside the city, adventurous souls strike out on mountain bikes defying the precarious bends and precipices on the world's most dangerous road, located in the Yungas on the way to Coroico. For an insight into the fractured nature of Bolivian politics, head to the seat of power in the Plaza Murillo and speak with some agitators, although be advised to move on if the group increases.

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