La Paz is situated at an altitude of 3650m. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world. Most tourists travelling to Bolivia will start their journey in La Paz. I took a bus ride to La Paz from Cusco via Copacabana. The bus ride takes about 24 hour including a stop at Copacabana. You can book the bus from boliviahop.com. There are direct flights to La Paz from Cusco & Lima. La Paz international airport is situated in El Alto. I booked my stay at Loki La Paz. Loki La Paz is the best hostel in La Paz and it is situated close to San Francisco church. The hostel is located at a central location and all the major tourist destinations are at walkable distance. The rooftop bar located at the hostel was very popular among tourists and locals. It is a great place to meet up with fellow travelers and locals. I reached La Paz at around 10 pm from Cusco. Bolivia Hop bus dropped me in front of my hostel. It was raining and the weather was freezing cold. La Paz is surrounded by high altitude mountains of the Altiplano. Illiamni is the highest mountain of La Paz and the top of the mountain is always covered in snow. The mountain can be seen from almost every part of La Paz.
Next day morning I decided to go for free walking tour around La Paz. The guide picked me up from my hostel at around 10 am. We met other fellow travelers in the group at the San Francisco church.
1.San Francisco Church
Our first stop of the trip was San Francisco church. The church was built in the year 18th century by the Aymara workers. San Francisco church is also known as San Francisco Basillica. San Francisco church is famous for its beautiful architecture. Every year La Paz day celebration happens at the plaza located in front of the church. It is also the most important place of the city for protests and demonstrations. The church represents beautiful blend of catholic and indigenous art. Our guide pointed us to look towards the outer walls of the cathedral. After thorough observation I was able to spot some indigenous symbols such as dragons, snakes and birds. You can also visit the top of the bell tower for amazing views of La Paz city. You have to purchase a ticket if you want to visit the rooftop of the church. The ticket for the optional guided tour of the church costs about USD 3. The guided tour is available in both English and Spanish. The architecture of the church is exquisite from the inside. The main hall of the church is full of beautiful artefacts.
2.Witches Market
After a short 10 minutes walk we reached the infamous witch market of Bolivia. Ancient indigenous beliefs are still practiced in La Paz. The witches market sell some weird stuff like dried Llama fetuses, dried snakes, dried turtles and dried frogs. The products sold in the market are used to bring health, love, intelligence, protection, wealth and longevity. Llama fetuses are used as an offering to goddess Pachamama. You will find lot of products made from different Herbs around the market. You will see lot of Cholita women wearing traditional hat and colorful petticoat around the market, they sell local handicraft items, items made from wool, wood carvings, cheap jewelry and fake stuffs.
3.San Pedro Prison
Our next stop was San Pedro Plaza. San Pedro Prison is located near the Plaza. San Pedro Prison is very unique compared to other prison because there is a society inside the Prison. There are around 1500 inmates inside the prison. There are shops and restaurants inside the prison and most of the prisoners live with their family inside prison. Our guide told us that the prison has its own economy. If you don’t have enough money, then you have to find work inside the prison and live in squalor. Politicians and drug lords live in luxury cells. There are some tour operators who organizes unofficial tour in order to visit the prison. Our guide told us not to visit inside the prison because it is very dangerous and no one can guarantee your safety.
4.Plaza Murillo
Our second last stop of the day was Plaza Murillo. Plaza Murillo is surrounded by Presidential Palace and La Paz Cathedral. The Plaza was filled with pigeons during our visit and we saw number of people feeding the pigeons. The Plaza is also center of La Paz and most of the major celebrations happen here. Our guide was very knowledgeable and he told us about the history during the independence of Bolivia. The plaza was named after Bolivian hero Pedro Murillo. History of Bolivia is very sad and it is filled with political violence and corruption.
Presidential palace,situated near the Plaza, is the official residence of the President of Bolivia. The statue of President Villaroe is situated opposite to the building. The plaza is a popular place for street vendors and locals.
La Paz Cathedral is another important building situated near the plaza. The Building features tall domes and large columns. The wall of the cathedral is decorated with beautiful art.
5.Calle Jaen
Our last stop of the trip was beautiful streets of Calle Jaen. The street made from Cobblestone is the most beautiful colonial street in La Paz. The place is home to some important museum of Bolivia. The street is lined with beautiful buildings built in the Spanish era. Calle Jaen is a great place to take some beautiful Instagram shots.
6.Teleferico Tour La Paz
During the Afternoon time I took the Teleferico tour around La Paz. The tour is available as a free walking tour. I paid around 50 Bolivian Peso for the tickets of the Cable car. Teleferico tour is a great way to explore La Paz from the top. It is better to do the tour with guide because it is very confusing to swap cable cars at different stations. The view of the beautiful Illimani mountain on the background of La Paz city was fantastic. The cable car system also helped immensely to reduce the pollution of the city.
The cable car system helped to reduce city traffic by a significant margin. La Paz is surround by mountains and lot of people live around the mountains. The Cable car system opened in the year 2014. Red, Yellow and Green lines were first opened to the public. La Paz cable car system is the longest cable car system in the world. The Cable car is the shortest and the cheapest form of transport system in La Paz. Cable ticket price is cheaper than bus ticket cost. Currently there are plans to expand the cable car system to other regions of La Paz. The cable car system will expand to 33 km and there will be total 11 lines in the future.
We took our first red cable car line ride directly to El Alto. El Alto is a suburb of La Paz which is situated 4000 m above sea level. Cable car has reduced the travel time between La Paz and El Alto to around 10 minutes from 1 hour. La Paz airport is situated in El Alto. I visited El Alto during a guided Teleferico tour. If you want to experience real life of Bolivian people, then you must visit El Alto. There was significant difference between climate of La Paz and El Alto. I felt El Alto to be little colder and windy. We took the Teleferico ride from the La Paz central and it took us around 20 minutes to reach EL Alto. I will strongly recommend to visit El Alto because You will get excellent views of La Paz city and the surrounding Andes Mountains. Our free walking tour also included visit to a witch market located in EL Alto. I will recommend to visit the area with a guide because El Alto is not considered safe for tourist.
We took the yellow, red, green, blue and white cable car ride. We saw some of the best landmarks of La Paz during our tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and she explained about different parts of the city and the history of different region of La Paz. The view of the La Paz national stadium was beautiful from the Cable car. La Paz national stadium is one of the highest professional football stadium in the world. We saw various national monuments and important buildings of La Paz during our trip. Our tour ended at San Francisco Church. The duration of the tour was around 3 hours and I will strongly recommend everyone to do the tour during your visit to La Paz.
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