August 2026
LA PAZ — Chaos, Cable Cars and a Little Bit of Magic
After the relatively polished and tourist-friendly atmosphere of CUSCO, my next stop was LA PAZ, the highest capital city in the world — and a place that immediately felt like a completely different adventure.
Sitting at around 3,600 meters above sea level, LA PAZ is built into a huge canyon, with buildings climbing dramatically up the steep hillsides. It is crowded, noisy, chaotic, colorful, and full of steep streets and stairs. In other words, it was not exactly a place where my legs were going to get a break!
But first, I had to actually get there.
A Very Long Journey to LA PAZ
Arriving in LA PAZ wasn’t easy.
After a full day of delays caused by bad weather and a flight cancellation, I finally arrived the following afternoon with my new travel friend. I was also slightly nervous about my airport pickup. I had arranged a driver in advance, but after all the flight changes, I wasn’t sure whether he would still be there waiting for me.
To my surprise, not only was he there — he was early, standing in the arrival hall with a sign displaying my name!
Even better, when we told him that we needed to exchange some cash and buy a local SIM card, he didn’t rush us at all. He even pointed us toward a cheaper SIM card counter for ENTEL inside the airport.
My new friend ended up asking the driver to take him to his accommodation as well, and he was so impressed with the driver’s kindness and reliability that he gave him a very generous tip.
A pretty good first impression of BOLIVIA!
Welcome to the Steepest City I’ve Ever Visited
LA PAZ immediately felt much more chaotic than CUSCO.
I didn’t see as many beautiful restaurants, fancy shops, or polished tourist areas. Instead, the streets were filled with reasonably priced restaurants, souvenir shops, tiny travel agencies, convenience stores, and little shops selling hiking gear and other useful things for adventurous travelers.
And then there were the hills.
LA PAZ was by far the steepest city I had ever visited. Stairs, slopes, narrow streets and more stairs seemed to be everywhere. Walking around the city sometimes felt like an accidental workout.
Thankfully, I had chosen a very convenient place to stay.
My Home Next to the Witches’ Market
My hostel, NO FEAR ADVENTURE HOSTEL, was located right next to the famous WITCHES’ MARKET, which made it an extremely convenient base for exploring the city.
The hostel itself was old and very basic, but it was also incredibly cheap, had a great location, and — most importantly — I could have a private room.
There was just one small problem.
There was no elevator.
My room was on the fourth floor, which meant climbing several flights of stairs with my heavy backpack. By the time I reached my room, I sometimes felt like I had already completed the day’s sightseeing.
Still, I had a spacious two-bed room all to myself. There was a shared bathroom on each floor, and because there were so few guests, I discovered that I could simply use a better and larger bathroom on another floor whenever I wanted.
The hostel was so cheap that I decided to keep the room even while I went away on my AMAZON tour. It was basically my storage locker, bedroom, and home base all in one.
Not glamorous — but it worked perfectly.
Choosing a Tour in a Sea of Travel Agencies
One of my first jobs in LA PAZ was figuring out how to get to RURRENABAQUE and, more importantly, how to book my AMAZON adventure.
There were so many tiny travel agencies everywhere that I had absolutely no idea who to trust.
I asked around at my hostel and also visited several travel agencies to compare prices and itineraries.
Then I met CHRISTIAN from LIFE TRIP BOLIVIA.
Maybe it was simply his sincere-looking face and kind way of speaking, but I immediately felt that I could trust him. After talking with him, I didn’t spend too much time worrying about the alternatives.
I booked the PAMPAS TOUR 3D2N with him, together with my round-trip bus tickets between LA PAZ and RURRENABAQUE.
And I’m glad I did.
Christian really did keep his word. The following day, he personally took me by minibus to the FLOTA YUNGUEÑA bus station, which was about half an hour from central LA PAZ.
He also continued answering my questions promptly on WhatsApp and arranged better bus company for my return journey.
For a traveler trying to organize everything on the spot, having someone reliable on WhatsApp was a huge relief.
The Long Road to RURRENABAQUE
For the journey to RURRENABAQUE, I took a FLOTA YUNGUEÑA Semi-Cama bus — basically a semi-reclining sleeper seat.
For the return trip, I used TRANS RURRE, which had Cama seats — fully reclining sleeper seats.
Both buses were surprisingly comfortable.
TRANS RURRE even had a toilet on board, although it was only for liquid. FLOTA YUNGUEÑA didn’t have a toilet, but it made at least three proper stops, usually around 15 minutes each, so there was no need to panic.
Considering this was a long overnight journey through BOLIVIA, I was honestly impressed.
A Taste of Cuba in LA PAZ
One evening, my new friend and I went to SABOR CUBANO, a Cuban restaurant near our hostel.
I had never been to CUBA and had never even eaten at a Cuban restaurant before, so I had no idea what to expect.
It turned out to be a wonderful surprise.
The food was mostly seasoned meat, rice and other hearty dishes, and everything we ordered was delicious. The drinks were good too, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable.
But what I liked most was the atmosphere. The colorful Caribbean-style decoration made me feel as if I had suddenly been transported somewhere completely different.
Not bad for a rainy evening in the middle of the Andes!
Comfort Food on a Rainy Night
Another rainy night, I decided I needed something comforting and headed to RICURA INDIA, a very attractive-looking Indian restaurant.
The owner came over to greet me personally and served me a huge selection of curries and other dishes.
Everything was delicious, and I ended up chatting with other foreign travelers in the restaurant too.
What started as a simple dinner on a gloomy evening turned into one of those unexpectedly fun travel nights — good food, new people, and lots of conversation.
They showed me the videos and photos of their 6000m volcano hiking in Colca Canyon from Arequipa and their Uyumi trip. Their trips were so fascinating. I wish I had time to visit those places too.
Sometimes the best travel memories happen when your original plan is simply “find dinner.”
Peanut Soup That Was Basically a Full Meal
After a morning half-day city tour, our guide recommended BOLIVIAN GREEN KITCHEN.
It was a lovely little café hidden inside a hotel lobby, with Wi-Fi and power outlets. Several people were sitting around working on their laptops, so it had a relaxed, almost coworking-space atmosphere.
The café offered all kinds of fancy coffees and fruit shakes, but our guide strongly recommended the peanut soup.
So, of course, we had to try it.
It arrived as a huge bowl of creamy soup filled with chicken, thin French fries and various other ingredients.
It was delicious.
And it was so filling that after finishing the entire bowl, I realized I had basically eaten lunch already.
One bowl of soup: 0% fancy dieting, 100% happiness.
LA PAZ From Above
Before catching my night bus to RURRENABAQUE, I had a free morning, so I joined my new friend on a half-day city tour.
He had booked it through GETYOURGUIDE, although the actual tour was operated by LA PAZ SIGHTSEEING.
We traveled around the city in a very distinctive open-top red minivan, which was almost an attraction in itself.
And then came one of my favorite parts: the LA PAZ CABLE CAR.
The cable car system is an incredibly useful way to get around the city, but it’s also one of the best ways to appreciate just how dramatic LA PAZ really is.
As the cable car climbed above the city, I could see endless buildings packed onto the steep hillsides, with snow-covered mountains in the distance.
From above, I could also spot the MOON VALLEY, the colorful cable car lines, and the huge LA PAZ sign.
The combination of steep mountains, dense buildings, cable cars and endless blue sky looked completely unlike any other city I had ever visited.
It was chaotic.
It was enormous.
And from above, it was strangely beautiful.
Death Road or Tiwanaku?
On my last day in LA PAZ, I faced a difficult decision.
Should I join the famous DEATH ROAD CYCLING tour, or visit the ancient archaeological site of TIWANAKU?
Normally, Death Road would have been the obvious adventure choice.
But it had rained heavily the previous day, and I was also starting to catch a cold. So, perhaps wisely, I chose TIWANAKU instead.
Ironically, that day turned out to be beautifully sunny.
So, yes… I did have a little regret about skipping Death Road.
But in the end, I was still happy with my decision.
TIWANAKU — Ancient Ruins and an Unexpectedly Great Lunch
TIWANAKU is a UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site and was once the center of an important pre-Inca civilization.
I had expected a few ruins and monuments, but the site was much more extensive than I had imagined.
There were impressive stone sculptures, ancient structures, mysterious imprints and pyramid-like remains, all spread across a huge open landscape with snow-covered mountains in the distance.
It was fascinating to walk around and imagine how important this place must have been hundreds of years ago.
But if I’m being completely honest…
The highlight of the day might have been lunch.
Our tour included a buffet, and I immediately fell in love with the vegetable soup.
I liked it so much that I had three bowls.
Yes. Three.
There was also a variety of vegetables, sauces and side dishes, plus llama steak as the main course. And the entire buffet cost only BS 50.
The whole TIWANAKU day tour itself was only BS 180, plus a BS 100 entrance fee for foreigners.
For that price, I thought it was an excellent day out.
It also taught me something useful: if you’re in LA PAZ, it may be worth checking the local travel agencies before booking everything online. The local prices can be surprisingly good.
LA PAZ — Chaotic, Steep and Full of Surprises
LA PAZ wasn’t love at first sight in the same way that some of the more picturesque cities on my trip were.
It was chaotic, steep, noisy and sometimes a little rough around the edges.
But the more time I spent there, the more interesting it became.
There were helpful strangers, reliable local guides, tiny restaurants, unexpected international food, ancient ruins, dramatic mountains and — of course — those amazing cable car views.
And perhaps that’s what I liked most about LA PAZ.
It didn’t feel like a city designed purely for tourists.
It felt like a real, busy, messy, living city — one that I had to climb, explore and figure out for myself.
And after finally making it there following my cancelled flight, getting picked up by a driver holding my name, finding a trustworthy tour operator, eating my way through rainy evenings, and looking down over the city from the cable car…
I felt like the real BOLIVIAN adventure had finally begun.