Highlights in and around La Paz - La Paz, Bolivia

Despite what you may read in some well-meaning books, traveling around La Paz, the commercial capital of Bolivia, in my opinion is as safe as traveling around any California city. If I took some travel books literally, I would have thought twice about braving the pickpockets and thieves they said would be there.

To the contrary, when I visited last June I found the people of La Paz to be friendly, helpful and honest.

Spectacular setting

The likelihood of anyone choosing the Altiplano at 13,000 feet elevation as a place to call home seems unlikely, but there the people are, growing potatoes, wheat and other grains. They walk many miles to carry their crops to the street markets.

One has to feel at least uncomfortable, if not guilty, about taking for granted our own abundance of resources and opportunities. However, that's a long way to travel to feel guilty, so there must be better reasons to visit La Paz.

Contact with the Aymara people cannot help but make one a better person. They are so proud, so polite, so colorful and so gentle. I saw in them a commitment to service to other people that I seldom see in our own culture.

A first "must know" fact about arriving in La Paz - the airport is at 13,000 feet. That takes some getting used to. For some, it may even pose health risks. Anyone with heart or respiratory problems would be foolhardy to go there without first consulting a physician.

Even a healthy traveler should consult with his or her doctor about prescribing the medication Diamox (125 mg, two tablets daily), to increase respiratory rate to counteract the effects of the low oxygen content at that altitude. Without medication, count on a few days of very limited activity while adapting to the elevation.

Most likely, you will arrive in La Paz by air, either on American Airlines or Lloyd Aero Boliviano (LAB). It also is possible to arrive by train. Unless you are willing to endure hundreds of miles of dirt roads, rule out making the trip by car or bus.

American Airlines has daily flights from Miami, making a spectacular dawn arrival. The silhouette of the Cordillera Real Mountains as the city's backdrop will be etched into. your memory forever. The lights of the canyon city will pique your curiosity about what is to come.

The airport of La Paz, on the large, flat plateau called the Altiplano, is ideally situated. Leaving the airport and approaching the city's lower location feels a little like approaching the edge of the Grand Canyon. This canyon is just gouged out of the Altiplano, falling away into a river system that travels on to the Pacific Ocean.

It seems an unlikely location for a city, but it has been the travel and commerce connection between the Altiplano and the lower-lying developed areas, such as the cities of Cochabamba and Sucre. A toll road now connects the airport with downtown (taxi fare is about US$10). It is an awesome sight to take in.

Getting around La Paz

Taxis in La Paz are cheap and buses even cheaper (some 15[cents]). There is one ear-catching phenomenon that must be unique to La Paz: because many people cannot read the destination signs, the microbuses have a youth who rides in the second seat with his head out the window shouting out the route of that particular bus.

Walking is even cheaper, and this seems to be the predominant means of transportation. A very small percentage of the population owns cars. Parking does not seem to be even a minor problem.

The very highest residential areas in the city don't have even dirt roads. Trails lead to individual houses.

In contrast to what we would normally think of as being valuable "view property," the most expensive homes here are located in the lowest part of the city. The higher neighborhoods have spectacular views of the snowcapped mountains but limited indoor plumbing.

The various embassies, the university and most of the good hotels and restaurants are all located in the lower part of the canyon.

There is only one really first-class hotel in La Paz, the Radisson. There are many 3-star hotels. We stayed at the El Dorado, a small, clean, friendly hotel. Its somewhat dull Continental breakfasts were counterbalanced by its incredibly helpful staff. The El Dorado is near the university and tends to be the hangout for research people and climbers.

About the restaurants

While Bolivia is not best known for fine restaurants, there are some good restaurants to be found. Argentinean steak is a must; that's what we had at El Gaucho. One beer or one glass of Chilean wine is the maximum to go with dinner until you get used to the elevation.

The best restaurant we found was the Andromedus, owned by two English immigrants. It had the best chef's salad I have had anywhere. Its Bolivian Merlots were excellent and the Argentinean beef was a real treat. Lunch at the Plaza Hotel was good, as was the buffet dinner at the Radisson.

Wherever you eat, a sampling of the saltenas is a must. This is a sweet, baked meat pie that can be purchased anywhere from street vendors or, for the more cautious, from saltenas specialty shops. They are addicting, nutritious, cheap and delicious.

Practical pointers

Take what you read about the "dangers" of pickpockets, thieves and robbers with a grain of salt. I felt safer on the streets of La Paz than I would on many U.S. city streets.

Carry your wallet in a front pocket (preferably zippered). Carry passports, travelers' checks and airline tickets in a chest/neck pouch, each person carrying half of the other's credit cards and half of the travelers' checks. Have photocopies of passports, immunization records, credit cards and driver's licenses. ALL are good traveling precautions no matter where you are traveling.

The nicer retail stores are good about taking travelers' checks, but some restaurants and smaller shops want cash. Credit card purchases typically have a 10% extra charge. Anticipate how much cash is needed for four or five days and keep that much in Bolivianos (US$1=B5.4). Bargaining for the best price is expected and is best done with cash.

La Paz's biggest attraction is its people. Those cute photographs of the Aymara women in their derbies and bright-colored clothes are not special-occasion photos; this is everyday street wear for the locals. Some are happy to have their photos taken; others are not. A simple rule that works every, time is to ask first.

Being an ecotourist (my spellcheck tells me that's a new word) is hard work. The concept is the same as being a responsible back-country hiker. The idea is to leave little trace of your having been there.

Interacting with the locals in a gentle way that shows genuine interest will go a long way toward building good international feelings. Sometimes a camera in someone's face negates the possibility of having that gentle interaction.

Sitting in the front seat of a tour bus with a camcorder, especially one with a flip-out screen where it can be placed on the dashboard, is almost like being an invisible photographer.

La Paz highlights

The center of action for the upper part of the city is the Plaza San Francisco. The big church there is a "must see." Adjacent streets have some of the best shopping.

Not to be missed are the streets in this area on Friday and Saturday nights. Everyone is out in finest dress. All the markets are in full operation. The streets are packed with people shopping, eating and just socializing.

The equivalent of an every-weekend Mardi Gras seems to be the norm. Don't look in the lower city for this to be happening.

La Paz is a very easy city in which to find your way around. Uphill gets you more colorful people, more dirt, less pavement, more street markets, better views of the mountains and more smells.

Going downhill always leads you back to the main street, the Prado, and downhill gets you nicer hotels, nicer restaurants, plush neighborhoods, embassies, universities and coats and ties. Both environments need to be experienced.

Outside of La Paz

Lake Titicaca is a "must see" because of its historical and geographic significance. Don't expect to find luxury lakeside resorts. Copacabana is a quaint, religiously historical lakeside town.

The specialty food is trucha (lake trout). The meat is pink like salmon. You can try any or all of the six different ways it is prepared. They're all delicious.

Copacabana's cathedral is the site of year-round pilgrimages to visit the wooden statue of the Virgen de Candelaria, said to have been the site of multiple miracles.

The major historical attraction not to be missed is the ancient town of Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco), a couple hours north of La Paz. Its beginnings date back some 2,000 years. Its claim to fame is that it lasted for centuries as an agricultural showplace. The creation of elaborate irrigation systems and growing techniques provided for its people an abundance of food.

Tiwanaku's power seems to have come from that technology only. In all the archaeological "digs," no evidence of any weapons of war have ever been discovered. The thought of so many years with no warfare is pretty intriguing.

Unfortunately, as with so many of the hieroglyphic types of writing, no one has been able to understand yet what great advice these gentle people may have had to offer the "modern" world.

There is growing evidence that the original inhabitants may have come across the Pacific in Kon Tiki-type vessels. These ruins are in the very early stages of excavation. The story will most likely become more and more interesting as the work continues.

The other major attraction forming the east border of the Altiplano is the Cordillera Real mountain range. You can just admire it from a distance, do a trek on some of the old Incan trading routes, or climb any of the 6,000+ meter peaks.

There are organized trips that can be arranged prior to going to Bolivia, or one can be planned after arriving.

The mountain range will be a major attraction for your entire stay in Bolivia. The big decision will be just how many photographs of these mountains is enough.

Editor's note: One of the author's side trips while in Bolivia was to climb Huayna Potosi, a 19,900-foot mountain just east of La Paz. Sleeping at the high camp (18,000 feet) was his biggest concern.

He and his fellow climbers, his 22-year-old son Brady, leader Craig Van Hoy of Ultimate Expeditions and four other climbers carefully planned the successful, 1,000-feet-per-day ascent schedule.

His next Bolivia trip will be to the rainforest (east) side of the Cordillera Real Mountains.

Questions or comments are welcomed through his e-mail, baturner @nccn.net, or through his website, www.nccn.net/~baturner.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Martin Publications, Inc.
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