When I first saw La Paz I said wow. You approach from the Andes high road and look down and see the city below. It sits in a bowl or maybe a canyon - with very steep sides. Those sides are built all over mainly by terracotta brick right to the brim. A population approaching 1 million. It looks incredible - the scale of it and all contained. The sides are so steep. Properties clinging on everywhere.The back drop is a snow capped mountain Mt Illimani at over 6400m. It never loses its snow. Stunning.
La Paz is set high above sea level - about 13000 ft. However from the top of the bowl maybe - over 13500 ft to the bottom 10500 ft it is enough difference to give La Paz different climate zones and therefore very changeable. It was hot while I was there but colder as you go up. The city centre is towards the bottom of the bowl at about 11500 ft. Everywhere is hills and many incredibly steep ones but life goes on. You feel the oxygen debt walking around especially when facing those hills.
However the two standout characteristics of La Paz is the traffic and the consequent pollution and the fact it is very evidently hive of commercial activity. The place is buzzing.
La Paz has no metro. Everything goes by road. Their MOT test cannot test for emissions! Apparently they use very low octane fuel too. The air often smells very strongly of exhaust fumes. Put that with the altitude and the hills - what are you breathing in to the bottom of your lungs? Every road is congested. Masses of deregulated buses all touting for business. Masses of old lorries and of course an incredible number of cars - manybof which look like bangers. Traffic is a big negative in enjoying La Paz.
What I did enjoy seeing was the commercial activity. Everyone is selling something. Shops are small often tiny. There may be 10 shops in a row all selling the same thing. Everyone is busy. I wouldn't say there is a fun atmosphere - they do not seem to have the time - they have to make a living! Obviously there is no welfare state - you have to earn for yourself. I never saw any multinationals. It is not chaotic. There is a system. It is not poor or third world really. It is just so busy.
My opening paragraph - I respect the people of La Paz. They do not sit around. They work. Every type of work imaginable. They seem to eat on the job too. Woofing down bowls of meat soup. It is the opposite of a laid back atmosphere but admirable in many ways.
I attach a few photographs from my mob for now.
One asset for La Paz is their Telefonica. It is a cable car system built by a Swiss company. Instead of going skiing you go home!
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| San Fransisco Church - a landmark building and meeting place |
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| The bus station - built by Gustave Eiffel on the principals of his tower! |
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| Views of La Paz from the Telefonica - cable car. |
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