La Paz will take your breath away. No, really. Flying straight into the world’s highest airport with an altitude of 4,050m (13,287 feet) is potentially a one-way ticket to altitude sickness. You will miss your usual share of oxygen at this altitude, so take it easy at first and drink lots of coca tea. Otherwise, just going for lunch feels like running a marathon. Once you are acclimatized, La Paz offers bustling street life, lively nightlife and a giant outdoor market. Better still, the Bolivian capital remains one of the best value cities south of Miami. Straddled between the windswept Altiplano
and the tropical Yungas region, La Paz has prospered as Bolivia’s commercial center ever since Simon Bolivar’s army entered the city on February 9, 1825. Today the city is a vibrant mix of indigenous Andean culture and post-colonial big city living. The legacy of the Spanish conquest (1535 to 1825) is still evident in the façades of buildings around Plaza Murillo. But head south down Avenida Arce and the cityscape shifts to high-rise blocks and modern apartments. In October 2003 a popular uprising unceremoniously dumped the previous US-backed Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Calm has since been restored to the streets of La Paz but sporadic strikes and protests still arise.
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