La Paz

I really liked La Paz allot. . . The city sits in a valley, surrounded by snow capped mountains. It doesn't really have much in the way of "sights", but the city is pretty much a sight in its own right. It has tons of energy, never seems to slow down. The traffic is insane. Crossing the street is a trip. The sidewalks are crammed full of people selling everything you could possibly ever imagine. There's barely any room for people to move. Walking the streets, you see people from all walks of life going about there business. Everyone is in a hurry, but nothing moves very fast. There is a strong indigenous presence. At the top of a very high and very steep hillside overlooking the city sits El Alto which started as a sort of slum melting pot of Bolivia's indigenous farm workers who had moved to the city looking for work. With a population of 650,000, El Alto is now a city in its own right.

Copacabana to La Paz:
On the way from Copacabana to La Paz, our bus was driven onto this barge and floated across a river. We all got off and took a separate boat to the other side. It was explained to me that at one time there were plans for a bridge, but locals who make there living ferrying people across the river protested, threatening to sabotage any attempt at building one.

La Paz:





Witches Market: Note the Lama fetuses displayed in the window. Many locals, when building a house, will place one under a cornerstone as an offering to Pachamama, an Aymara goddess.

El Alto: I took a bus to the top and walked back down to the center of La Paz. It was quite evident that folks here are far worse off than those in La Paz. The place had a sad neglected kind of feel to it. . . it was also alot colder than La Paz. None of the streets were paved. However, El Alto had tons of character and the views were awesome.