After a month in Peru, we were excited to move on to our next country, Bolivia. We planned for a few days in the capital of La Paz before heading off on a tour of the famous Uyuni salt flats. La Paz turned out to be an interesting place. We ended up enjoying it more than we had expected to.

Crossing the Border

Entering Bolivia we experienced the first land border crossing of our trip. We are much more used to arriving in new countries by air, with our visit to Swaziland (now Eswatini) our only previous experience of a land border crossing. Our Peru Hop guides gave us plenty of advice about the border requirements and how to transfer to our Bolivia Hop bus once we were in the new country.

We were a little surprised to see snow on the ground, and even more surprised when it started sleeting while we were waiting in line to exit Peru. It didn’t help that the line was moving slowly because of problems with the Peruvian immigration computer system. Eventually we made it through, and the Bolivian entry formalities were a lot quicker. I was a little bit nervous about our plan for Lachlan and I to enter Bolivia on our Australian passports after exiting Peru with our U.S. passports (to avoid the extortionate visa fee charged by Bolivia to U.S. citizens). However, the Bolivian officials didn’t say anything about the lack of a Peru exit stamp in our Aussie passports, just stamped them and we were officially in a new country.

Copacabana

After a short bus ride, we made it to the lakeside town of Copacabana. Some of our fellow travelers planned to stop here to visit Isla del Sol (birthplace of the Incan Sun God) and see Lake Titicaca from the Bolivian side. We instead opted to continue on to La Paz after a four hour layover. This gave us time to find an ATM to withdraw some Bolivian currency, then get some lunch before doing a bit of sightseeing.

There isn’t really much to see in Copacabana. We spent some time sitting on a bench near the water, watching people enjoy themselves in paddle boats and inflatable hamster wheel contraptions.

With a couple of hours still to kill until our departure for La Paz, we found a bar with a nice view of the bay.

We relaxed here nursing a couple of drinks, catching the sunset over Lake Titicaca before heading off to our bus.

Our sunset departure meant that we didn’t get to enjoy any scenery on our ride to La Paz. The bus dropped us off near our hotel around 10pm and we checked in to the nicest room we had encountered so far in our South American travels.

La Paz Day 1 – Wandering the Streets

With our night time arrival, we didn’t really see anything of the city until the next morning. The hotel breakfast room was on the top floor, and the views were spectacular. The constant background in La Paz is the mass of houses extending up the hillsides that surround the city.

After breakfast we set off to explore the city. Our hotel was located near the famous Witches’ Market, so that was our first stop. It was still early, so there weren’t many people around but plenty of goods were on display.

I think more tourists than witches visit this market these days. However, you can still find stalls selling llama fetuses, which are buried in the foundations of new buildings as an offering to the goddess Pachamama.

Stalls also sell various potions and ingredients for rituals and ceremonies. You can find lots of souvenirs and craft items that may or may not be hand-made.

When we came across the obligatory instagrammable street art this confirmed the Witches’ Market’s status as mostly a tourist attraction rather than a working market for the local population.

San Francisco Convent Tour

Next we headed for the Plaza San Francisco. This sits in the center of the city, with the impressive 18th century Basilica de San Francisco on one side and a bustling modern(ish) downtown on the other.

We took a guided tour of the convent next to the main church building. The convent building itself wasn’t really too amazing after some of the places we’d seen in Peru.

What made the tour worthwhile was the chance to climb to the rooftop of the basilica. As well as a close-up view of the bell tower, we got to see interesting roof construction details.

Calle Jaén

After our convent tour we continued our DIY walking tour and headed to Calle Jaén. This is a well-preserved colonial street where you can find four small museums.

We were weary after walking the hilly streets of La Paz, so we skipped the museums and found a cafe. It turned out that the cafe was also a tour agency which offered tours using the city’s cable car system (Mi Teleferico). We had wanted to explore the cable cars but were having trouble finding information about how to use them, so we booked a tour for the next day. After finishing our refreshments and booking our tour (and waiting out a rain shower that hit as we arrived at the cafe) we headed back to our hotel to rest up for the next day’s adventures.

La Paz Day 2 – Teleferico Tour

The next morning we returned to the Plaza San Francisco. We had some time to kill before the tour which we spent people-watching in the busy plaza and again admiring the detailed facade of the Basilica de San Francisco.

Soon our guide arrived, and a Thai traveler who was joining us for the tour. The tour started with a minivan ride to the main cable car station. This is a very modern structure that looks a bit out of place in La Paz.

We boarded the cable car and set off on our tour.

Shortly after starting on our first cable car ride, we passed over the largest cemetery in La Paz. The tombs here are stacked like apartments, and there are colorful murals on the ends of the structures.

On the way to our first stop, our guide gave us some information about the cable car system. It’s a pet project of President Evo Morales (president at the time of our visit, that is – soon after we were there he was forced from office by mass protests after a dubious election “victory”). The teleferico fare is very inexpensive by international standards, but more expensive than the minivans that are the alternative public transport option. As a result, the cable car system is very lightly used, it can’t possibly be making a profit. It will be interesting to see if the cable car system continues to expand (or operate) under the new president.

El Alto

The first stop on our tour was El Alto, the neighboring city high above La Paz. The views were spectacular, but we were really feeling the altitude (4,150 meters or 13,620 feet).

Our next cable car ride took us along the cliff edge with more spectacular views down to La Paz. We also got a birds eye view of the El Alto market.

The next cable car took us back down into La Paz, across some of the southern neighborhoods. The aerial views of the various parts of the city were fascinating.

Our next ride took us between the high-rise buildings of downtown La Paz before the last leg of the tour took us back to the tour company office where we had lunch at the attached cafe.

Plaza Murillo

After lunch we set off to do some more pedestrian exploration of La Paz. On our way to the Plaza Murillo we came across the aftermath of a wedding celebration.

We soon made it to the Plaza Murillo, which is the home of some important government buildings and many, many pigeons.

The plaza is named for Pedro Domingo Murillo who is depicted by the statue in the center of the square. Murillo played a key role in Bolivia’s independence.

One of the surrounding buildings is the colonial Government Palace, which is now the President’s office. It’s identifiable by the guards outside in their red uniforms. They didn’t seem to be quite as disciplined as guards we have seen at palaces in other countries.

The National Congress building has an interesting feature – a clock that runs backwards.

Lachlan’s favorite feature of the plaza was the teeming masses of pigeons. They are attracted by the people who feed them, young and old.

We sat for a while and enjoyed the late afternoon sun, and the colors in the plaza

Before heading back to our hotel, we made one last stop at the ethnographic museum. This was really interesting, but there wasn’t much information in English. We saw lots of crafts, both finished items and displays about how things are made. The displays of hats and items made from feathers were particularly interesting. There was also a display of Bolivian coins and banknotes, notably some very high denomination notes printed during times of hyperinflation.

La Paz Day 3 – Markets and More Cable Cars

On our last day in La Paz, we checked out of our room after breakfast and put our luggage into storage at the front desk. The taxi to take us to yet another overnight bus was scheduled to pick us up at 8pm, so we had plenty of time to kill.

It was Sunday, so many of the streets near the hotel were taken over by a sprawling market.

We saw lots of produce, food and household goods. This was definitely a market catering to locals, not tourists, and a fascinating place to wander around.

The market also gave us an excuse to wander around some neighborhoods away from the main tourist areas. We saw some interesting street art.

We also saw some examples of the challenges involved in building in this overcrowded and very hilly city.

We took a break from our wandering in San Pedro Square and noticed lots of people lining up to get into a building. It turned out to be a prison, Sunday is visiting day.

Our plan for the afternoon was to spend some more time on the cable cars. On the way to the teleferico station we came across another artisan market and festival. There were lots of families enjoying the sunshine and checking out the wares.

A Relaxing Afternoon

After learning how to use the cable car system on our tour, we were were keen to do some exploring on our own. On a whim, we took the southernmost line right to the end to see what we would find.

It was an interesting ride over a different part of the city, more affluent than most of the areas we covered on the tour.

Soon we were approaching the final stop on the cable car line, in the residential and shopping district of San Miguel.

There was a military museum right next to the cable car station that looked pretty interesting, but unfortunately it wasn’t open.

Checking Google Maps, we found a nearby area with some cafes and headed in that direction for some refreshments. It was a nice walk through a decidedly more upmarket neighborhood than the area around our hotel. Along the way we saw a street performer working an intersection while the light was red.

We made it to the cafe district and sat down for some coffee and cake. We actually sat there for quite a while enjoying a non-demanding activity that was just like something we might do at home. It was a nice break from being in travel mode. Eventually, it was time to head back to the hotel and mentally prepare ourselves for our overnight bus trip.

We had some great views of La Paz in the late afternoon sunshine during our last cable car ride.

After disembarking from the teleferico we came across a very modern public art piece as a last reminder that La Paz is full of surprises.

We were ready to head off for our adventure on the famous Uyuni salt flats, but were very glad that we had spent some time in La Paz and not just used it as a transit point. La Paz was an unexpected highlight of our time in South America.