La Paz (Bajo)

Once we left Alto La Paz, everything changed. We drove down the canyon to La Paz, and we learned that this Bajo part is the initial city, with the alto part being added little by little by internal migration. The high part is on more than 4,000 meters above sea level, whereas in Zona Sur where we chose to stay it is around 3,250.

The city is very rich in buildings and culture and we have experienced a modern city with excellent infrastructure. We also learned quickly that while petrol is near impossible to find, if you need diesel you might as well not bother. People told us that they had waited up to 5 hours for petrol since the crisis started with huge financial problems and unrest in late 2024. Since a month ago, petrol is now being available little by little, but there are kilometer long queues of trucks, even including the petrol trucks, waiting to fill up with diesel. This, together with not having internet access for maps as our Latin American sim provider has no deal with Bolivia, made for a couple of days of stress until we had sorted things. Next thing was Karin getting some stomach bug, possibly from an ice latte, taking five days of trouble and no food, before Harold insisted to get medication from the chemist to start recovery. For good measure we also got involved with a police officer who claimed we had been speeding so we needed to leave the car with him and go to the bank a long way away to pay the fines. It took a few more encounters with the friendly version to get over the stress of seeing one at the distance. All in all, La Paz was a great city with a lot of interesting things.

Our usual taxi tour took us to different parts of the city, visiting viewing sites, El Mercado de Brujas, the city center, and even a local coffee shop. It was on a Sunday, and although traffic was busy, it was not overwhelming. Sundays is a day off in La Paz, shops are closed and people are having a rest. Food outlets and chemists are open.

La Valle de La Luna is an iconic place to visit. Up close you get a total immersion of what you might imagine is a lunar landscape, made from dirt and stones. The rain will wash away some of it every time it comes, and the landscape is changing without pause.