La Paz & el Alto

La Paz is said to be the city with the highest seat of government and the highest airport in the world.
It is at 3640m altitude located in a big valley. Surrounded by the even bigger city el Alto, stretching
up the steep hillsides and overlooking La Paz. The contrast between the two cites can not be bigger.
The big sky-scrapers and shopping malls of La Paz in contrast to the crappy red brick houses of el Alto.

From the valley you can reach the top by super modern cable-cars (built by Doppelmayr, an Austrian company). Currently there are two lines built but 6 more are planned to connect La Paz with el Alto.
One ride is about 0,2€ including Wifi in the cabines, it is simply ridiculous and a must-do in La Paz!!
On the top you have such a cool view of the 2 cities and the surrounding mountains in the background...

Every Thursday and Sunday there is the biggest market in the world in el Alto. Was there on Thursday and the dimensions of this market are amazing, hiked from one end to the other and it took me over 1 hour...
You can buy everything there like food (including over 500 different potato species), clothes, toys, computer-hardware, even beds and cupboards as well as cars or parts of it, or lama-fetus (used as a gift to Pachamama=mother earth when building a new house)...

 

 
In La Paz I made a city tour on my own and visited some churches, public places, markets,...
The tour was created by "red cap" and is free for download with lots of additional information:
The shoeshine boys on the streets wear masks, so that their relatives and friends can not recognise them doing this kind of work. The women wear the cylinder, because they were told it is a big fashion in Europe back in the 50s. And they are still very fashionable here in La Paz.
One more important information: If a woman wears the cylinder inclined it means that she is single!!

I even went to an old car-parking house, which was transformed into a big market. There you can find several small stands selling cheap food and drinks. The possibility to eat very cheap at such places here in Bolivia is the reason why you will not find any fast food chain like Mc Donalds or Burgerking in this country...

The coolest thing here in Bolivia is that the Bolivianos have an unwritten law. Which says: "Treat the tourist like he is one of you and he will come back to Bolivia someday". So they do not betray you or try to sell you stuff more expensive because you are a tourist.
Bolivians are super friendly and I felt save all the time. For me Bolivia was probably my most favourite county of my South America trip and I will for sure return to visit more of this amazing country.