With almost 40% of the population living below the poverty line, ranking as South America’s poorest country in terms of GDP per capita, it’s fair to say we were pleasantly surprised by all Bolivia has to offer.
Before you go, you should realize Bolivia is unique in comparison to the other countries of South America. It’s home to the world’s most dangerous road, (Yungas/Death Road), a place where you can roam some of the most diverse, untouched parts of the Amazon Rainforest, hike through beautiful mountain scenery, visit ancient Inca ruins, marvel at the surreal landscapes of the Salar de Uyuni, and explore a part of the continent that a surprisingly small number of other travelers ever do.
Backpacking Bolivia was such a fulfilling, exhilarating experience especially if you’re looking for adventure. Three days in La Paz afforded us enough time to enjoy a number of experiences. We explored the city, sampled a variety of Bolivian street foods, wandered through markets, partied in the local hostels, and took in exceptional views.
So whether you’ve been thinking about traveling through Bolivia, or haven’t yet considered the possibility, let me introduce you to the basics.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Depending on your nationality you might need to pay an entry fee or obtain a visa ($160 USD for us). As Americans, we were totally unprepared and this came as a major last-minute surprise to us. Check out this website to see whether you will need to pay an entry fee and apply for visas prior to arrival.
Arriving in Bolivia is breathtaking, literally. Be sure to allow time in your schedule to get yourself acclimatized because most of the cities in Bolivia are at some fairly high altitudes, (the airport, for example, is at 4,061 meters above sea level).
La Paz is well worth the breathing difficulties, and the feeling that you’re about to get run over every time you step out of your hostel. It’s chaotic, congested, noisy, and polluted, but there is truly something about the messy chaos that offers an authentic experience seldom found anywhere else.
The steep hills surrounding the city offer incredible scenic views of the town below. At the city center, peeks out the top of the San Francisco Church. You can find street performers on the Plaza Mayor, a spectacular market, Mercado Lanza close by, and of course, the infamous Witches Market full of unusual products and concoctions.
Traveling in La Paz – Strolling through Town
La Paz is very different in its own way. No one is in a rush, yet everyone is busy going somewhere. You’ll be surprised at how you struggle to conquer the crooked sidewalks, foul-smelling bus fumes, and steep hills, especially with the altitude change. Oh, and cars, well they don’t stop for you. Ever been to New York City? This is NYC on steroids.
Traveling in La Paz – Riding the Teleferico, Cable Car System
The cable car of La Paz is the highest commuting network in the world. At about 4000 meters, Mi Teleferico completely revolutionized the ease of transportation between each area of the city linking “El Alto”, the highest part of town to “Zona Zur”, the lowest. Each cabin seats 8 people, and WiFi is available, although, with a complete bird’s eye view of the ground below, the last thing on your mind will be connecting to the internet. Travel costs only 3 bolivianos (about $0.50 USD) each line compared to 5 bolivianos (about $0.75 USD) for a one-way bus ticket.
Our La Paz 3 Day Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival and Night Out
We flew red-eye and landed in La Paz around 8 AM. Upon arrival, we decided to opt for a taxi to bring us to our hostel (that we had just recently chosen 5 minutes prior). And we could not have picked a better spot to plant our La Paz roots. We arrived at Loki La Paz and were greeted by a young girl, about our age, who checked us in, provided us with a brief tour, and attached our Loki wrist bands which we would later learn would double as our bar tab which was super convenient and the perfect final touch to our check-in process. As two carefree, single female travelers, ready to have a good time, it was comforting to know we could go out for drinks in the evening and not have to bother with wallets or purses.
For those of you who don’t know, we jumped on this trip super last minute. Super. Last. Minute. As in “Hey Shannon, you want to go to Bolivia?” Shannon rolls out of bed after peacefully resting through the better part of the afternoon, after an atypical very late night at the Halloween party of the century (we dressed up as unicorns — ask us for pics!!). “Sure girl, why not?” More on this “why not” later. But, staying on topic, this trip took flight, literally, within the first 24 hours upon even contemplating it. Passports were in different cities, businesses were scheduled to run at capacity for the following two weeks, dog sitters were needed, basic bills weren’t paid, roommates were in the process of moving in and out, but we want you to understand this one thing about us. We did it. And if you learn one thing from our travel blogs and experiences let it be this. If you want something, nothing in the world can stop you. Promise. This is how we live. And how we encourage our followers to live as well. As I said in my first blog post ever on here, everything is “figure-out-able” and I want you to know and believe it truly is. So back to the storyline, off we were to Bolivia, within 24 hours after even looking up where the place was on a world map. (I kid you not).
Needless to say, upon our arrival, we were not only exhausted but had an overwhelming amount of both personal and business matters to address. We spent the majority of our first day, unfortunately, but more happily than if we were locked down by our previous corporate careers, in our hostel room (we opted for a private room specifically for this reason throughout our stay in La Paz). We worked, we napped, we took exams, made phone calls, caught up on emails, and took care of all of the boring, mundane tasks of everyday life so we could enjoy the majority of the upcoming days exploring Bolivia.
We ventured out to wander the town finally in the late afternoon and found to our surprise, it was chilly. Rather chilly. Off to search for some weather-appropriate gear we went. Little did we know, this would be one of many of our outings for similar necessities throughout our time in Bolivia. Luckily for us, and this is literally meant to be said with zero desires to be impolite or ill-mannered, Bolivia has been in a perilous state of crisis both politically and economically for the last decade and a half, (please do not attack me, I am only stating a fact) and since we are from the United States, at least shopping was modest and affordable not only allowing us the opportunity to gather and collect (most) of the items we were without but also to continue on our planned/unplanned journey throughout Bolivia for the upcoming week and a half.
We arrived back to Loki around nightfall and had the perfect amount of time to freshen up and head out to the Loki Bar and to explore, without missing a single Blood Bomb (basically a Jager bomb with vodka instead – to which patrons down an impressive amount of throughout the evening.) We had a friend arriving shortly after our initial start to our outing, so we wanted to be sure to stay nearby — give us complete control of reigns and we might’ve ended up in Chile by morning. Without our friend. Just kidding. Okay, I’m a terrible liar… Our initial evening turned out to be a flawless kick-off to our Bolivian rendezvous. We got ourselves acquainted with Loki Bar and hotel staff (I honestly don’t think we missed one single employee — call me out if we did!) We played beer pong, twister, charades, and God knows what else. Once Loki was ready to call it quits for the night we gathered a crew to venture further into town. Next up on our agenda for the evening was a small bar named The English Lions. Let’s just say we came, we saw, we conquered. This spot was the perfect after-party bar with affordable drinks and great music. Our crew definitely lived it up here and provided top-notch free entertainment for anyone that entered. After dancing the night away until the early morning hours, we were exhausted and anxious to make our way back to our home away from home, Loki Hostel.
Day 2: Market Block, Cable Cars, and Exploring La Paz
As a consequence of not only our nightlong escapades, but also the combination of the time change, jet lag, and dramatically increased elevation, “The Morning After” was a little rough for us. Slept in is an understatement. Finally feeling alive and human, we emerged from our quaint, but comfy lodging by afternoon. First stop, a quick bite at a street food stand for a much-needed local treat, a chicken salteña, the Bolivian version of an empanada (10 Bolivianos or about $1.50 USD). It might have been the desperate need for food of any kind, particularly the greasy type to soak up our hangovers, but I’m 99.9% positive these “empanadas” were the best any of us had ever had. After devouring our findings, we were off to check out Mercado Lanza. Located in the middle of Plaza Pérez Velasco and Calle Figueroa, this “parking lot like” market consists of hundreds of small storefronts spread throughout four floors. Here you can find everything from fresh meat and fish to clothing and shoes, or fresh fruit juices, and even jewelry. We sampled various snacks from a handful of different stands throughout, and then we’re off to continue exploring.
The remainder of our day consisted of a little bit of taxi riding and A LOT of aimless walking. While wandering throughout town we decided we had to make a stop to ride the city’s aerial cable car system. And I’m so glad we did! We rode from Estación Central on two or three different lines from downtown La Paz up to El Alto (where the airport is), and we were entirely mesmerized the whole time by the scenery below us. As we advanced through the sky, we were pleasantly surprised that amidst the boring brick buildings, was a small, yet beautiful and vibrant rainbow-colored village. This town, Chualluma, built on the side of the valley at the foot of El Alto is part of a development program “Mi Barrio, Mi Hogar” (“my neighborhood, my house”) in hopes of improving the living conditions of its residents.
What awaited us upon exiting our cable car at El Alto was one of the highlights of our time in the city. With nearly 360 degree views of La Paz, and a glimpse of Mt. Illimani emerging in the distance, the area surrounding the evangelical church, Iglesia Rhema Primera was the perfect spot to end our busy day in La Paz! After observing the fantastic views El Alto had to offer, we began our descent back to our hostel for the evening. We had typical American bar food, a few Blood Bombs, engaged in a super competitive round of Twister on an enormous floor mat, and shockingly called it a night quite early — see we can be responsible on occasion — day three would involve a great deal of adventure, along with a questionably early departure.
Day 3: Bike the World’s Most Dangerous Road
Eager to sign up for this crazy ride since our arrival in Bolivia, we blew right past the possible risks one could encounter on Death Road- the most obvious one being death (hence the name) and we signed away our lives. Nothing could have prepared us for biking five hours down this unpaved road of bumpy rocks, sharp turns, steep hills, no guard rails, and a 2,000-foot drop into the surrounding forest. At a maximum height of about 4650 meters, and a maximum width of about 3 meters wide, this 60-meter long journey takes you through virtually every climate zone of South America offering the most breathtaking views of the Amazon rainforest. Thankfully, we survived unscathed, and strongly urge you to make this a part of your visit to Bolivia. Feeling both terrified, yet totally amazing, we couldn’t be more proud to have braved the most dangerous road in the world. Below we have provided a rough outline of how your Death Road tour schedule will go. We choose to bike with “Ride On Bolivia” (link here for full review) and can’t say enough amazing things about our experience (499 Bolivianos or about $70 USD all-inclusive, front suspension bike).
7 AM-7:30 AM: Rise and shine for pick up in the Loki Hostel lobby
8 AM-8:30 AM: Arrival at start of the route, light, and quick breakfast, bike, and equipment test, and gear fitting
9 AM-9:30 AM: The first 21KM of slick, perfectly paved road to give you just enough confidence to prepare for what’s to come…
10 AM -ish: The real deal road begins. Expect narrow, treacherously bumpy conditions but also tons of checkpoints to rest and take advantage of photo opportunities.
Noon-ish: Much welcomed lunch/snack of ham and cheese sandwiches with some surprising toppings and just enough stories told by our tour guides to have us thinking to ourselves “What have I got myself into?”
Noon-ish to 3 PM -ish: A continued whole day cycle downhill ending at the town of Coroico
3:30 PM-4 PM -ish: Cheers that we survived with a cold beer and an early dinner – shower, towels, soap, dinner are all served during this time and we’re able to relax by the pool if we so wish
4:30 PM -ish: Begin our 3-hour ride back to La Paz
We arrived back at Loki around 7:30 PM with just enough time to clean up, change, and head out for the evening. It was predetermined that evening three was going to be our “carefree and wild night out”. Little did I know, although prior to the day’s outings I was completely asymptomatic, the continuous rise and fall in altitude from high to low throughout the day, both physical and mental exhaustion, and lack of sleep would create an unwelcome encounter with altitude sickness. If I continued on to describe how the evening played out for me, I can promise you would be entirely uninterested. Although I was a trooper and stuck it out, I’ll opt to replay the night as if I were not vomiting violently in misery. We began the party at Wild Rover Hostel, known for being the highest Irish bar in the world, where we met up with our tour guide from the earlier Death Road adventure, and enjoyed drinks and dancing for several hours.
Following Wild Rover, we decided to try out a small lounge bar known as an after-hours spot strictly for foreigners. It’s peculiar because it seems as though everyone knows of it, but not everybody knows where it actually is. That’s because this special bar changes location often as to avoid drawing attention to itself, and complaints from the local neighbors. We each handed over 25 Bolivianos (about $3.50 USD) for our entrance fee. We were then escorted to an area with some black leather couches with a small table in the middle. After experiencing everything this place had to offer, we were ready to get some rest.
Day 4: Witches Market, Cafe Relaxation, Street Shopping, Departure
Surprisingly, up and moving prior to lunchtime, we were seeking some retail therapy and decided to head to The Witches Market (Mercado de Hechiceria). Full of all things weird and wonderful, you’ll come across everything from dead llama fetuses, to dried frogs in ancient potions, to other spells, rituals, and remedies. It is super important to remember, what may seem like hocus-pocus to us tourists, is actually sacred to those who practice ancient Alymaran beliefs.
After venturing around The Witches Market, we stopped at a local restaurant for some authentic Bolivian food, and then spent the bulk of the afternoon relaxing, catching up with the outside world, and enjoying gourmet coffees at Dumbo’s La Paz.
As the afternoon flew by, and some rainy weather blew in, we came to a unanimous decision we would head back to Loki, gather our belongings, and lounge out enjoying our final time in La Paz before catching our overnight bus to Salar de Uyuni.
Final Thoughts About Our 3-4 Days in La Paz
As entertaining as the traffic was, at times, it was often downright scary to be in a vehicle. La Paz was crazy, unique, beautiful, and literally breathtaking, as well as even unnerving, but nevertheless, we left this little piece of South American Altiplano with magic in our hearts and excitement in our bones. We are so incredibly thankful we choose to take this super last-minute trip to somewhere that initially wasn’t at the top of our travel list. Bolivia left us feeling full of wonder and ready to take on the rest of the world!!!
