La Paz: City Tour, Mi Teleferico, Tiwanaku, Museums and More

With three more days in La Paz, we explored.  We went on a guided city tour with Diego.  We started at a small shop to learn about different chocolates, wines and liquors made in Bolivia. From there we drove to a local market. Similar the San Pedro Market, there were items such as fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and nuts, however, there were pre-chopped vegetables to help save time when cooking and no tourist items.

After a short drive, we arrived at the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon).  It was the opposite of the Valle de los Animas—monoliths rise up from the badlands where the mountains eroded and the area is well marked. It is rumored that the site was name by astronaut Neil Armstrong. Our guide said this was true because his grandmother was a friend of Armstrong’s golf partner.

Rather than drive to and from the city center, we took a series of cable cars in new transit system, Mi Teleferico. It is the world’s highest cable car ride operating 13,000 feet above sea level and has changed the way locals (and tourists) travel within the city. For some, it reduced commute times from over an hour to about 10 minutes. The system is environmental, functional and beautiful. We took the cable cars two more times the following days.

Diego took us back to el Mercado de Las Brujas to see some of the medicinal shops and to meet the witch that his family consults.  (She did not want her photo taken.)

We walked through the Plaza Murillo as Diego talk about Bolivian history.  There was a mix of old and new buildings surrounding the plaza. We watched the pigeons but did not feed them.

Sunshine got a haircut.

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The next day, we drove about two hours to visit the spiritual and political center of the Tiwanaku, a pre-Hispanic empire on the Altiplano near Lake Titicaca. The majority of the ancient city was built over but is now a protected archeological site. Although not fully excavated, we walked around the Akapana and Pumapunku platforms, puerta del sol, puerta del luna, a semi-subterranean temple and multiple enclosures after visiting two small museum (no photos allowed).

On our final day, we returned to Calle Jean on our own to explore the Museo de Instrumentos Musicales.

It’s a small museum that was interesting and fun to walk through.  Each room had music playing and an impressive collection of instruments. The most interesting was a 26-string instrument that looked similar to a mandolin.  (No photos allowed inside the museum) We also explored the Museo de Coco, another small and interesting museum built as a place to learn about the science and history of the coco plant.

We went to the hotel bar, 591 (named after La Paz’s area code) just to look out on the city at different times of days.  We did go into the Jacuzzi once. The views were always spectacular!

For our last meal in La Paz, we ate dinner at the restaurant Gustu. It was an unusual dining experience with local ingredients and recipes.  All of the dishes were delicious and unique, including the potato ice cream for dessert. We look forward to returning for just one night on our way back to Peru.