Bolivia. La Paz

  La Paz is the highest capital city in the world, located at an altitude of approximately 3700 meters in the Andes Mountains, within the crater of a volcano... Here, we rode the famous cable car system Mi Teleférico and visited the most colorful location in the city - the Witches' Market...

  The city of La Paz, whose name translates to "peace" or "calm," is a large metropolis that we passed through on our way to the natural reserves of Salar de Uyuni and the Eduardo Avaroa National Fauna Reserve... Leaving Copacabana in the morning, we arrived in La Paz around noon and had plenty of time to visit the most interesting places in Bolivia's capital... To avoid spending too much time in city traffic, we headed to the outskirts and reached the city center using the Mi Teleférico cable car system...

  Mi Teleférico, which translates to "my cable car," is the urban cable car network of La Paz and is the only system of its kind in the world to serve as the main backbone of the city's transportation infrastructure, rather than merely a complement to existing systems. It's like the local metro system in the air...

  The aerial cable car network consists of ten lines totaling 30.5 kilometers and 26 stations, including eight transfer stations and two hub stations (connecting three lines). Another line and four stations are currently under construction. There are 1,398 cabins, each seating ten passengers, moving at a speed of approximately 20 kilometers per hour and departing every 12 seconds... Consequently, each line has a capacity of 3,000 passengers per hour.

 This is the best way to view the city from above... This is what a cemetery looks like in the densely populated capital...

  After getting off near the bus station, we went to buy tickets for the overnight bus heading to the town of Uyuni, and then we walked to the city center...

  The most interesting and colorful part of the city was the Witches' Market...   

Among the usual tourist goods and various knitted items, they also sell all sorts of herbs, charms, and alpaca fetuses, among other things...  

Quite tired from all this variety, we stopped for coffee at a nice café, then continued our stroll through the market refreshed...

   Entering the most colorful shop with spiritual goods on the main street of the Witches' Market, we bought a dream catcher...

    We gradually left the city center, heading towards the nearest cable car station...

  After the Witches' Market, we decided to spend the rest of our time on the cable car, riding around the city... We just hopped from one line to another, enjoying the views from above...

  One ride costs 3 bolivianos, which is approximately 0.40 euros, so we rode for over 2.5 hours to circle the city...

 Behind the city, the snow-capped mountains were clearly visible... Specifically, mount Illimani, towering at 6,438 meters...

 The buildings constructed right on the edge of the crater were impressive...

  Upon reaching the upper part of the city, we had a beautiful view of the lower part... A metropolis in a crater...

  Also, from the cable car, it was fascinating to observe the daily life of locals and admire the architecture of the city...

 

  After completing our ride around the city on the cable car, we exited near the center and walked through the main streets towards the bus station...

  At eight thirty in the evening, we had tickets for the overnight bus heading to Uyuni...  

  In La Paz, we stopped once more on our way back from Uyuni. We had about a two-hour layover before catching the early bus to Puno from La Paz. During this time, we didn't venture far into the city; instead, we stopped at a local café for breakfast. In such places, we enjoyed ordering an egg and vegetable sandwich and coffee, which cost 8 bolivianos (around 1 euro)...