BootsnAll Travel Network



La Paz – a city on the edge of space

I’ve never ever seen a city quite like La Paz. From the air it is astounding. From the ground it is awesome. And from the bit in the middle it’s breath-taking.

We’ve had two bites at the cherry on viewing this one, each time an incredible experience leaving an indelible impression of neatly ordered chaos surrounded by third world squalor.

The guidebook says it rivals Rio and Hong Kong – I haven’t seen either but I won’t hold my breath……

Coming in from the north, dropping slowly over Lake Titicaca, the Altiplano stretches to a horizon guarded by 6,000 metre Andean peaks. Ever so gradually signs of habitation appear, neat squares of livelihood rising from the parched ochre-coloured earth, punctuated by grid roads and the occasional glistening tower of a Catholic church. The squares become more frequent as the world’s highest international airport hoves into sight, bearing one sole runway stretching for 5 kilometres to give jet planes a fair chance of stopping in this rarified air.

In fact these squares, homesteads to migrants seeking the bright city lights, hug the airport perimeter and stretch away on all sides for as far as the eye can see. The land is so flat, a vast high level semi-desert, and from the ground appears to hold no boundaries other than those made by the mountains around.

And mountains they are. Bolivia has the highest landmass outside of the Himalayas. Towering great hulks to the east capped with icing sugar look surreal in the crystal clear light, close enough to touch and yet miles away at the same time.

But the habitation of the Altiplano is only a very small part of the city on the edge of space. Coming in from the north it’s almost impossible to glimpse the great gouge in the earth that is La Paz proper; to see this magnificent sight means catching a plane from the south, which is just what we did a few days later.

Flying from hot and steamy Cochabamba is remarkable, not least because when the plane clears the rim of the mountain ampitheatre in which this city sits the ground beneath the fusilage is almost too close for comfort. But again La Paz wins hands down for a flight of a lifetime in terms of sheer awe that such a place could exist.

The first inkling of being close to the city is when the 6,000 + metre peak of Potosi Huyani almost touches the plane’s wing. This mountain, standing tall above the city below, looks down on two great valleys within a huge bowl, a giant’s scoop from a tub of ice cream. All around the sides cling buildings scaling the precipitous edges, jostling for space, dissected by roads and criss crossed by wires. Incredible.

And this is from the air. What awaits the traveller moving from Altiplano and airport to city hub and grid lock (a difference in altitude of almost 2,000 feet in just over 6 miles) is something all over again.

From the squalor and deprivation of kids in the gutters, trashed roads and threadbare civilisation our cabbie takes a quick turn left to behold La Paz below. It seems there can be no way down the immensley steep slope to which civilisation clings, but there is, and as we feel the pressure change in our ears the sky scrapers below begin to draw closer while still seeming to be almost directly below us. Our helter skelter of a road doesn’t relent, twisting viciously round corners as traffic appears from no where and joins the throng heading for the world below. Street vendors stack their wares precariously against the forces of gravity, streams of brackish pungent water rush away to the plug hole at the bottom and the whole of La Paz appears to fall into itself.

At least on the edges of this space the roads are relatively clear. Where gravity ceases to play such a major role everything slows down, eventually grinding to a halt from which there appears no way out. Vehicles of every possible type edge forward at any opportunity, hawkishly guarding their space while going nowhere at all. People squeeze past the bumpers and wing mirrors, business people with briefcases alongside Campesinos with huge sacks on their backs, oblivious to the occupants of the metal cages around them. And then, without warning, the engines start up again, the people disappear and the traffic moves on – for a short while at least.

When night falls and you’re at the bottom of this pit you can be mistaken for thinking you really are on the edge of space. The stars seem so close at first, but only when you realise these are the streets above your head do you remember you’re in La Paz.



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2 Responses to “La Paz – a city on the edge of space”

  1. P&P Says:

    E&E I have just finished reading your travell-blog in detail, what a great read, truly a holiday or experience of a lifetime. From the flights there,the taxies,toes ,resturants,traffic,
    observations on local customs, scenery and hotels, to the stories of the mines. Eug- what a place it definately lived up to your expectations and Em your description of Eug’s exit (which I read first) had me in stitches.
    Bon voyage and all the best P&P

  2. Posted from United States United States
  3. Geoff Says:

    A Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year to you both – Oh! And particularly healthy for the toe.