Between salt flats and the sky
From your geography class at school, you might remember that La Paz is the highest capital city in the world. It straddles altitudes of between 4 050 m on the Altiplano (Andean Plateau) where the airport is located, and 3 100 m down in the city centre – the difference in altitude is almost the height of Table Mountain!
The topography of La Paz makes road transport difficult: Even though the streets are tarred, they’re incredibly steep. The people who live on the Altiplano used to take hours to reach the city centre and back up in the evenings. Nowadays a cable car network, the longest in the world, transports residents. Tickets are dirt cheap and you get a bird’s-eye view of the whole city.
Every day is market day in La Paz. The Witches’ Market will make your hair stand on end as dried animals and parts thereof are sold with the promise of increased libido, solving marital problems or cursing someone. Then there’s the enormous El Alto Market, perched on the rim of the Altiplano, where you can buy almost anything, including all the parts for a car that you can assemble yourself!
Just like its capital, Bolivia is a country of extremes. The geography can be divided into
