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La Paz, Bolivia
Calle Jaen, La Paz, Bolivia (cc)
Photo: Paul Richter
La Paz Travel Guide
Introduction
La Paz, formally Nuestra Señora de La Paz, is the highest de facto capital in the world. It sits in a bowl in the Andes at an elevation of approximately 11,975 feet (3,650 m), with the rich folk occupying the lower levels where the land is more stable and the air warmer and easier to breathe, while the poorer masses scramble up the steep mountainsides as the city expands to accommodate an unending influx of migrants from all around. The city has a core, to be sure, filled with colonial architecture and clean, well-kept plazas and attractive shops. The streets are abuzz with the city's almost million-strong population, more than half of which consists of people of pure Andean descent, who are busily promoting the arts of their culture or selling the fresh produce of family and relatives at the markets around Plaza San Francisco and Plaza Murillo. There are restaurants here that are both exotic and refreshingly ethnic, and hotels tucked between artisan shops and street tiendas hawking, among other things, mounted tarantulas! La Paz also has a lively night scene, with an array of options that range from low-key piano bars to popular jazz clubs, from venues offering Andean pan flute music to wild, unhinged discothèques that fairly rock the city. And it's all happening at the top of the world – at nearly 12,000 feet!
Location
La Paz is situated in the Andes at the foot of Mount Illimani, a snow-covered monolith, some 317 miles (510 km) to the northwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, or 1.330 miles (2,140 km) southeast of Lima, Peru.
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- Best Time to Visit: August-October
- Cost Per Day: US$-US$($b-$b)
- Currency: Bolivian Boliviano BOB (US$1 ~ $b7)
- Electricity: 220V/230V - 50Hz | Sockets with 2 round pins or 2 flat parallel prongs
- Phone Code: +591 2
- Population: 900,000 (2.4 million in the greater metropolitan area)
- Offcial Website: www.lapaz.bo
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