Sucre & La Paz, Bolivia

From Uyuni we took a bus further east to what many consider is Bolivia’s most pleasant city, Sucre. After having spent a couple of days there we couldn’t disagree; it’s very pleasant. Although Uyuni and Sucre are only about 100 km apart as the crow flies, our bus took 9 hours! This part of Bolivia is steeply mountainous and the roads circuitous. But it was worth the trip. Sucre’s pleasant bustling streets and fine buildings made for an interesting place to wander around and admire the sights. Even better, we discovered the local market where our months’ long quest for some decent fish to eat came to an end. A nicely cooked fresh whole trout and vegetables for the equivalent of AUD$3. This was the moment when I decided a fella could hang up his backpack and settle down in Sucre.

But it wasn’t to be. We wanted to see La Paz, the highest capital city in the world (although strictly speaking, under Bolivia’s constitution it is Sucre that is the nation’s capital but these days nearly all national government activities are run from La Paz). We faced a 16 hour bus trip to get there. Not a pleasant prospect. Bolivian National Airlines came to the rescue with an internet special air ticket of just AUD$73, and so 50 minutes after taking off from Sucre we landed in La Paz. 50 minutes versus 16 hours! Looking down during the flight onto the mountain roads far below, it was easy to see why there was such a difference. Some of the steep mountainside switchbacks were incredible.

In La Paz in the bohemian suburb of Sopocachi we checked into the spacious modern apartment we’d booked on airbnb, owned by chemical engineer turned beer brewer Remo. La Paz has more than Adelaide’s population crammed impossibly onto the sides of a steep valley. Apparently it’s a dodgy city after dark with muggings and the occasional kidnapping to motivate the victim to divulge his/her bank card’s pin number (with added painful inducements should he refuse), so we were extra careful to avoid potentially risky situations. And we had no anxious moments during our four days in La Paz.

Just below the cemetery, La Paz’ outdoor market spills out along several blocks of streets. We’ve never seen a larger market; one whole long street was devoted just to shampoo, soap and similar items.

Bolivia certainly has a distinctly different ‘look and feel’ from other countries we’d visited on the trip. It’s also obviously quite a bit poorer, with plenty of beggars about. Many women, even younger ones, wear the traditional clothing we associate with Bolivia, particularly the ‘bowler hat’, making for some distinctively Bolivian streetscape scenes.

Having steeper streets than San Francisco, and the altitude of Lhasa, walking around La Paz can leave you breathless, as it did us. It was here where we started to experience the altitude symptoms of shortness of breath, and inability to sleep properly, the latter a real nuisance.

I mentioned La Paz’ cemetery earlier. It’s huge and fascinating. With space at a premium, burials are above ground in horizontal layers of rectangular crypts. We were there on Saturday, an apparently popular day for funerals. There were many taking place with sadness in every direction. One procession, for the burial of a toddler, was led by a guitarist playing Sounds of Silence. Many other people were attending to the crypts of their previously interred relatives and/or friends, replacing flowers and rearranging ornaments.

With steepness ruling out a subway system, the Bolivian government recently installed several lines of cable cars that soar above the city and provide an efficient means of public transport. We spent an afternoon riding these cars, giving incredible views of the city and life in La Paz below.