🇧🇴 OUR LA PAZ JOURNEY — The Colors, Breath and Surprises of a City Hidden Inside a Valley
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As we left the endless white salt desert of Uyuni and headed north toward La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital, we carried both curiosity and a slight uneasiness inside us. Since the beginning of the journey, we had been feeling the sharp, deep breath of the Andes, but we still did not know what La Paz would show us. Sometimes the sun hid behind the clouds, and sometimes it appeared before us with all its strength. As we moved through the curves of the road, in those moments when the silence of nature mixed with the sound of our engine, we felt as if we were in one of the most distant and forgotten regions of the world. Leaving the calm whiteness of Uyuni and climbing toward the mountains felt like passing from one civilization into another.
Along the way, deep valleys, cliff edges and rocks reaching toward the sky welcomed us. It felt as if every bend in the road opened the door to a new story. But behind all this beauty, we still had no idea about the fuel reality that would confront us at the very beginning of the road.
⛽ Our First Encounter with Bolivia’s Fuel Reality
Shortly after entering Bolivia, it did not take us long to realize that the country was facing a serious fuel shortage. The first thing that caught our attention was the gas stations at the entrance of the city: in front of almost all of them, there were lines stretching for 4-5 kilometers. At first, we thought it might be some kind of festival, event or special day. But then we realized that this was simply a normal part of life here.
There was also an even stranger situation: almost no passenger cars in the country used diesel fuel. Most of the cars on the streets were gasoline-powered. The fact that our Peugeot 408 was diesel quickly started to worry us. Diesel was usually given to city buses, trucks and heavy machinery. For foreigners like us, fuel was sold at almost three times the local price. This rule would annoy us several times during our journey, but it was something we had no choice but to accept.
When we left Uyuni, our tank was almost half full, but because of Bolivia’s hilly roads, the engine consuming more fuel at altitude and the constantly rising elevation, the fuel gauge began to drop quickly. After a while, we saw the red warning light start to blink on the dashboard. Experiencing that kind of stress while approaching a big city like La Paz was not pleasant at all.
When we arrived in the city, we learned that finding diesel was even harder than we had imagined. Looking at the endless lines of gasoline cars completely lowered our mood. Just when we were about to lose hope, we noticed a small station serving only buses and trucks. We immediately headed there. The line was still long, but at least it was moving. When we told the attendant we were foreigners, he reminded us of the triple price with a slight smile on his face. At that moment, we were in the mood of “whatever it costs, just let us continue the road.”
That day, we did nothing else. We simply went to the hotel and rested. Bolivia had already challenged us and fascinated us at the same time in our first encounter. We felt a light tiredness inside, but also a strong curiosity.
🏙️ LA PAZ — A CAPITAL LOST BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS
When we woke up the next morning, it did not take us long to understand that we were in one of the most interesting cities in the world. La Paz did not resemble any city we knew. Hundreds of thousands of houses spread inside a valley, as if they had been poured between the mountains. In the lower part of the city, modern apartment buildings and skyscrapers rose upward; as you climbed higher, the view changed and traditional brick-colored, box-like houses appeared one after another.
Every high point whispered a different story. On one hand, the city was inside a breathless crowd; on the other hand, it carried a strange peace in the middle of the valley. Maybe this contradiction was exactly what made La Paz so special.
As we watched the city, we thought about what it would feel like to live there. The difficulties of high altitude, narrow streets, chaotic traffic and a sky woven with cable cars… All of them together gave La Paz an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in the world.
🏛️ Day 1 — City Center, Parliament Building and the Witches’ Market
We started our first full day in La Paz from the city center. The area around Plaza Murillo, considered the heart of the city, was surrounded by government buildings with yellow and white colonial-style details. As we walked around the square, we felt the weight of history and the movement of the present at the same time. Soldiers, tourists, locals… Everyone seemed to move within a certain rhythm.
As we walked toward the Parliament building, we noticed something for the first time: many people had cotton in their noses. At first, we thought this might be a tradition or a different health practice, but the truth was much simpler: altitude. Nosebleeds are apparently quite common in areas of La Paz above 3,600 meters. This scene showed us the height of the city in the clearest possible way.
As we walked through the streets, different smells and sounds appeared around us. When we saw llama meat being sold in a few small shops, we got curious and decided to try it. We ordered two portions, thinking we would share them. But the taste was not for us at all. It had a slightly sweet aroma, and its texture did not really resemble the meats we were used to. That day, we closed the llama meat chapter.
Later in the day, we reached one of the most mysterious places in La Paz: Mercado de las Brujas, the Witches’ Market. The dried alpaca fetuses, mysterious herbs, amulets, colorful fabrics and calming scents sold here gave the city a completely different atmosphere. Seeing the beliefs, rituals and culture of the local people here was an important step in understanding the soul of La Paz.
As the sun slowly disappeared behind the hills in the late afternoon, we walked through streets decorated with umbrellas. At that moment, we truly felt the modern, traditional and almost fairytale-like character of La Paz.
🚡 Day 2 — A Day Above La Paz by Cable Car
We dedicated our second day entirely to the most fascinating transportation network in La Paz: the cable cars. There is no metro in this city, no tram, but there is a huge network suspended in the sky. Colorful cable car lines stretch from one side of the valley to the other, and each one carries a different feeling.
The cable car lines of La Paz were:
- Red
- Yellow
- Green
- Blue
- Light Blue (Celeste)
- Orange
- Purple
- Brown
- Silver
- White
We rode each of these colors one by one. We got off one cable car and transferred to another, each time watching a new face of the city from above. As the cable car cabin glided through the air, watching life flow beneath us gave a strange feeling of power. The city was chaotic, crowded and tiring, but when seen from the sky, everything looked organized, calm and even peaceful.
The cable car carried us not only to viewpoints above La Paz, but deep into El Alto as well. As El Alto welcomed us with the sign “Ciudad con Altura,” we felt that the cultural and economic pulse of the country was beating there. The chaos dominating the city, the energetic streets, shouting voices and endless markets were all here.
When we looked down from the cable car, we saw that almost all of El Alto was like a giant market. The streets were filled with stalls stretching for kilometers, and there was everything on those stalls: colorful fabrics, electronics, toys, food, handmade products… Whatever you were looking for, you could find it. We got off the cable car and let ourselves into the middle of these markets. Getting lost in the crowd, walking alongside local people and becoming part of their life, even for a moment, was deeply impressive.
In some side streets, we also saw incense burning in front of small shops. Shops of spiritual practitioners, offering rituals and traditional practices were still alive here. The smell of incense at the doorways spread through the streets mixed with smoke. People left their wishes, some prayed, some simply watched in silence. The atmosphere was both mystical and fascinating.
When we looked at the view from the cable car again, we were amazed by how the city inside the valley breathed, lived and resisted.
🚧 Day 3 — The Surprise We Faced While Trying to Leave La Paz
On the third day, around 10 in the morning, we set off to leave the city. Our destination was Copacabana. When we got in the car and drove into the streets, something caught our attention: there were no cars on the streets of La Paz. This did not look like a normal day at all. For a crowded city like La Paz to be this quiet was almost impossible.
As we drove a little farther, the situation became even clearer. City buses and minibuses had blocked all the main roads. In some intersections, vehicles were lined up side by side; in other places, the roads were completely cut off. Whichever direction we turned, we saw the same scene. Getting out of the city seemed impossible.
We parked the car in a safe place and spoke with the bus drivers. The reason for the protest was very familiar: the fuel crisis. The drivers had blocked all the main arteries of the city in protest against the government. The only thing they told us was:
“No one can leave this city until the protest ends.”
We looked at each other in surprise. There was not much we could do. So we left the car and started walking around La Paz without it. The city had lost the noise we had been used to for days. There were no horns, no traffic. You could even hear people’s hurried footsteps. This silence in the streets was one of the most interesting moments one could experience in a capital city.
Some cable car lines were still working, so we got on them again. From the sky, we could clearly see how the buses had completely blocked the roads. We were also able to record this in photos and videos. The protest version of La Paz was a sign of the city’s complex but powerful character.
Around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, when the roads reopened, the city suddenly came back to life. People went out, traffic started moving and life returned to normal. We got back into the car and set off toward Copacabana.
🍃 Fighting the Altitude: Coca Leaves
During the three days we spent in La Paz, Ozcan felt the effects of altitude the most. The altitude above 3,600 meters caused not only shortness of breath, but also dizziness, fatigue and weakness. In this city, there was a solution that local people had been using for centuries to adapt to the height: coca leaves.
We bought some of these leaves and joined this cultural habit of Bolivia. When you chew coca leaves and keep them in your cheek, the body feels lighter, breathing opens up and headaches decrease. We felt this effect quite strongly, especially in El Alto and on the cable cars. Seeing coca leaves sold in small bags seemed interesting at first, but we soon understood how natural, traditional and everyday this practice is here.
🎒 La Paz: A Difficult but Fascinating City
La Paz did not just show us a city; it gave us an experience, a challenge, a culture and a story.
During these three days:
- The fuel crisis
- The llama meat experience
- High altitude
- Protests
- Endless cable car lines
- The magical atmosphere of the Witches’ Market
- A giant city lost inside the valley
- The chaos and energy of El Alto
- Colorful streets, umbrellas and murals
- Huge markets, spiritual shops and incense
- And on top of all that, the surprise of blocked roads
all came together and turned into an unforgettable journey.
Bolivia did not show us an easy face. But the face it did show was more real, tougher and more loyal to its own identity than almost anywhere else in the world.
And we saw that face from the valley, from the streets and from the cable car.
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For general information about La Paz: La Paz – English external source