It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

La Paz, Bolivia. The capital of the country, settled into the hills….. major hills.  There is nowhere flat in this giant metropolis. Driving toward the city you begin to notice the hills growing larger, and the homes settled into every canyon and wash!

As we grew closer we could begin to understand the enormous size of this city. Estimates are in the range of 2 million people. But that accuracy is questioned.

One of the best ways to observe the hills, the neighborhoods and the sheer size is to ride the sky tram. The is called “Mi Teleferico” or “El Alto” and it NOT designed as a touristic, scenic ride. It serves the genuine purpose of connecting neighborhoods with one another using the terrain of hills, mountains and valleys. Similar to an inner city tram or bus route. The entire system is color coded and uses symbols to indicate routes and stops. There are over ten different routes available, but since many citizens do not read, the colors and symbols help them navigate this public transportation. For example, the red flower route or the green tree route, or the silver crown route. This is truly an incredible feat of engineering, planning and design.  Enjoy a few photos. Of course, we will start with one of the station dogs that wander freely, greeting travelers and commuters.

Residents of La Paz also use brightly colored city buses, they ride motorcycles, take taxis, drive cars, ride bicycles, use electric scooters and WALK!! It is very much a walking city.

Our visit to La Paz included some special moments, such as meeting up with the only other overlanders we knew of who were also driving a GMC truck.  We had texted many times, but never actually met until now!

We also went to a real movie theater.  It took a bit of planning to find one that featured a film in English.  But it was fun to have popcorn and snacks and watch a new release movie in a theater setting in South America.

We also visited a few unique and well prepared museums. The antiquities were well preserved and very impressive. There were extensive mask collections and also ancient textiles made from feathers and various fibers.

La Paz has an excellent mercado or market area.  The products that are available range from tacky tourist magnets to gorgeous old fabrics.  We decided that we would purchase beautiful, hand woven blankets to offer to our kids and grandkids. We spent many hours walking through the shops, negotiating prices and even buying from vendors on the street. By the time we were done, we felt about like this –

But we had acquired a variety of genuine, vintage blankets that we hope our kids and grandkids can treasure.

Another gem from our city wandering was this moment of electrical lineman at work. Clearly he knows what he is doing!!

Of course, any city walking means that we will spot a little bit of graffiti.  These unusual ones caught our attention.

This time in the big city, filled with distractions, activities, noise and chaos provided all of us with an opportunity to leave our sad thoughts a little bit.  We were able to clean the camper and donate two bags of dog supplies to a nearby animal rescue group.  This gave all of us, even Pacha, an opportunity to smile a little more.

One of the craziest activities we did while in La Paz involved wrestling. You may have read our post about attending wrestling in El Salvador. But here in Bolivia, the luchadores were not big hunky men.  These wrestlers were beautiful Bolivian women in long traditional braids, wearing skirts and throwing each other around.

We purchase our tickets for about $10.00 and entered the huge, noisy gymnasium. The tickets include coupons for one free drink (water, beer, soda) and one free trip to the restroom (disgusting) !!

The pre-show for the event included a couple of different men trying to get the crowd hyped up.  Loud music, lots of posturing and shouting…. it worked, folks were exciting for the main event.

The main event began with some walk-on music blaring from loud speakers, flashing lights and lots of sparkles. Each wrestler (cholita) came out with a different set of fanfare, clearly appealing to their regular fans in the crowd.

In the end there were arms held high and winners declared. The fans were frenzied, the beer was flowing and the gym was loud. It was a fun, silly spectacle and we were glad we went. If you ever have a chance to watch Cholita Wrestling, I think you will enjoy the show.

It has been a very full visit in the big city of La Paz, Bolivia. But it is time to move down the other side of the Andes Mountains.