An easy flight from Dallas, I arrived at La Paz in a day.(La Paz is on Eastern Standard Time) I arrived in the evening, and the city was twinkling with lights. 
The airport is 13,000 feet, and La Paz is in the valley, at 12,500 feet.
The city is a scene of stunning contrasts. A central cluster of church spires and office blocks dwarfed by the magnificent icebound peak of Mount Illimani rising imperiously to the southeast.
On either side the steep valley slopes are covered by the ramshackle homes of the city's poorer inhabitants, clinging precariously to even the harshest gradients. 
With a population of 835,000 La Paz is the political and commercial hub of Bolivia with Sucre being the capital. La Paz is the highest capital in the world. It is populated by two distinct societies, the indigenous and the European - co existing.
The Aymara are the majority of the indigenous.
They also make up a large part of El Alto - a "suburb" of La Paz, with 1.0 million population - the fastest growing city in Bolivia.
Horrendous congestion and belching-black pollution notwithstanding, I found La Paz's compelling street life, and colonial past fascinating.
I was extremely fortunate to have one of the best guides one could want - Stanley - who was a Medical Dr. , Archeologist, Historian, Teacher, and extremely knowledgeable about every aspect of Bolivia.
La Paz - The City of Our Lady of Peace - is predominantly Catholic. The merchants of Bolivia grew wealthy through COCA - sacred leaf of the Andes. Coca is used to stem hunger,tiredness, altitude sickness and used in religious and cultural sacrament with magical powers. It is also the raw material for cocaine and coca cola.
PLAZA MURILLO
The main square of the colonial city center, still has an endearing provincial feel, busy, yet with people feeding pigeons 
and eating ice cream; students on field trips, and smartly dressed families on a sunny day. In 1810 after leading a failed revolution, Pedro Domingo Murillo, was hanged here. There is now a statue at the center of the plaza.
LA CATEDRAL AND PALACIO PRESIDENTIAL
Both represnet political and spiritual power iin Bolivia. The Cathedral has it's twin bell towers and rather plain neoclassical facade.
It took more than a century to build and the stain glass windows represent Presidents Mariscal Andres de Santa Cruz and General Jose de Ballivian 
and their families receiving blessings from on high- which expreses the close relationship between the church and state in Bolivia.
The Palacio Presidential stands next to the cathedral.
It's discreetly backed up by military policemen with more modern eqipment. Completed in 1852 it is generally known as the "Burnt Palace" - after it was badly damaged by fire in 1875. In 1946 , Gualberto Villaroel, himself thrown from a palace window by a mob and hanged from a lamppost. 
Palacio Legislativo - with the backward clock........
Palacio Legislativo - with the backward clock........CALLE JAEN
Three blocks northwest of Plaza Murillo lies the enchanting Calle Jaen, the best preserved colonial street in La Paz and home to no fewer than 5 municipal museums. 
A narrow cobbled street lined with whitewashed houses adorned with elegant wooden balconies, red-tiled roofs and carved stone doorways opening onto quiet courtyards this street has the feel of a small street in Cordoba.
Museo Casa de Murilllo -
a sumptuous mansion which was once the home of the venerated independence martyr after whom it's now named.
PLAZA SAN FRANCISCO AND THE MARKET DISTRICT
The gateway to the main Aymara neighborhood in La Paz. Founded in the colonial era as the Indian parishes - these neighborhoods were where the Aymaras settled living around churches build as part of the effort to convert them to Chritianity; less idealistically, this separate indigenous quarter was designed as a pool of cheap labour, neatly separated from the Spanish city by the Rio Choqueyapu (the most poluted river in the world). 
Today the area maintains a very strong Aymara identity with its tiny winding congested streets, and vibrant markets.
MERCADO DE HECHICERIA - WICHES' MARKET 
This provides a fascinating window on the usually secretive world of Aymara mysticism and herbal medicine. The stalls here are heavily laden with ritual and medicinal items. The indigenous traditional healers who are the market's main customers adopt a holistic approach in which a herbal cure for a specitif symptom is usually combined with magical efforts to address the imbalances in the supernatural world. The items range from incense to dried talismans and dried llama fetuses - 
used for fertilitily. 
ZONA SUR
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