LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
JUNE 29-30, 2015
The sun beams down in its noon warmth upon my return to La Paz, Bolivia’s major Andean city, so I take my friend’s ‘challenge’ and stay for a night.
This is my second pass through La Paz…in the first, the cold late afternoon air made my lungs hurt from the cough I picked up at Lake Titicaca, and I was in town long enough to take one “micro” (same as a combi, local transit van) to the main bus terminal. It didn’t feel very welcoming in its cold mountain sprawl.
Crossing the border from Peru into Bolivia is really its own story, a dust cloud of uncertainty, rickshaw rides back and forth across the border bridge, and changing visa rules and fees. Much of it I forgot as we crossed the altiplano and down into the warmer central valleys of Bolivia in the night.
On return, though, it’s a warm day in the ‘capital of the Andes’ and things are going smoothly. Immediately down Av. Montes from the bus terminal, I find a hostel, Pirwa, and then cheap basic lunch, then the Plaza San Francisco a little further downhill. This is a walkable city with lots of micros up and down Av Montes, the main street. The indigenous cultural presence is strong around the Plaza and mercado central, with artesania and tourist areas down some side streets.
Street food vendors are around the Plaza and mercado, day and night, and it’s carb heavy high altitude food, like savory empanadas and pasta with meat, egg, or potatoes. Soda is as cheap as 1 Boliviano (Bs/peso) yet water costs 4 or 5.
The murals and street art around central La Paz are some of the best I encounter in Peru and Bolivia. Here are a few of my favorites:
The tall, snowcapped mountain Illimani, overlooking the bow-shaped city from the northeast, is featured in many of the artworks. Illimani has been a magnificent icon of the city since pre-colonial times noting the Aymara site in the Plaza…..
This night in the Plaza, the Peru-Chile Copa America semifinal game plays on a giant TV screen, and it is full of fans watching, mostly going for Peru (Peru loses, but I don’t stay for the end).
Hostel Pirwa La Paz offers bunk beds for 49 Bolivianos and includes breakfast, hot showers, internet, communal areas, and a natural mirador above the lounge…all very good. This photo looks up at the hostel from the street entrance.
A good “tourist” attraction is the Telerifico Red Cable Line, which is also local transport between central La Paz and El Alto, the sprawling new city up on the Altiplano. The views of course are amazing, and it only costs 3 Bs each way. The central station is a little hard to find from Av. Montes; it’s up on Av. Manco Capac on the west hillside.
On the Red Line, you can keep going up to El Alto or get out at the Cemetery station, which is what I do. As we ride over the cemetery, it becomes clear how huge it is. Mausoleums are on a grid, in kind of a labyrinth, and I almost got lost among the hypnotic church chanting, giant monuments to elite families, Bolivian police, and soldiers in the chaco war…..
The mountain and the cable line are guides to getting out.
This is a mercado in El Alto, an example of the modern Aymara architecture. I hear it also referred to as “Tiwanaku-style” or “New Andean.”
Here is an in depth article about one of the major architects of these interesting buildings.
I finish my La Paz visit at the Mercado de los Brujos uphill behind the Plaza San Francisco, where one may find Palo Santo, amulets, lots of incense, candles, and remedies, and dried baby llama fetuses for 300 Bs.
Arianna
arianna's creative travels 