Qualla: La Paz https://qualla.com/la-paz en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: La Paz https://qualla.com/la-paz La Paz: Introduction https://qualla.com/la-paz/ Photo credit Parallelepiped09, CC BY-SA 4.0. Flying into El Alto, you see the sprawling brick shantytowns first -- mile after mile of low buildings spread across the altiplano at 4,058 meters. Then the ground drops away, and La Paz appears below, clinging to the sides of what looks like a gash in the earth. The canyon created by the Choqueyapu River falls nearly a thousand meters from rim to floor, and Bolivia's administrative capital fills it completely, a cascade of buildings tumbling downhill toward the wealthier, milder neighborhoods at the bottom. It is the highest national capital in the world, a city where geography dictates social order with a literalness unusual even in South America: the lower you live, the richer you are, because the lower you go, the warmer the air and the easier the breathing.

Read more: La Paz on Qualla

Image: Parallelepiped09 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/6mpd-la-paz-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full La Paz: A City Built by Gravity https://qualla.com/la-paz/ Photo credit EEJCC, CC BY-SA 4.0. La Paz was founded in 1548, and the logic of its layout has not changed since. The Choqueyapu River -- now mostly built over -- runs northwest to southeast through the canyon, and the main thoroughfare follows it, changing names along its length. The central section, a tree-lined...

Read more: La Paz on Qualla

Image: EEJCC | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/6mpd-la-paz-a-city-built-by-gravity.mp3 0:06 2 full La Paz: Gondolas Over the Canyon https://qualla.com/la-paz/ Photo credit Parallelepiped09, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Mi Teleferico cable car system has transformed how La Paz moves. Ten lines connect El Alto with downtown and beyond, soaring over the canyon in gondolas that the locals keep in immaculate condition and where passengers greet each newcomer who steps aboard. A ride costs three ...

Read more: La Paz on Qualla

Image: Parallelepiped09 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/6mpd-la-paz-gondolas-over-the-canyon.mp3 0:06 3 full La Paz: Thursdays at Sixteen Thousand Feet https://qualla.com/la-paz/ Photo credit Olga Lidia Paredes Alcoreza, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every Thursday and Sunday, the Feria de 16 de Julio takes over entire neighborhoods of El Alto. It is one of the largest open-air markets in the world, a mostly Aymara bazaar where a person can find software, high-quality used clothing from Europe and North America, furniture, ca...

Read more: La Paz on Qualla

Image: Olga Lidia Paredes Alcoreza | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/6mpd-la-paz-thursdays-at-sixteen-thousand-feet.mp3 0:06 4 full La Paz: The Altitude Tax https://qualla.com/la-paz/ Photo credit Parallelepiped09, CC BY-SA 4.0. La Paz extracts a physical price from everyone who arrives from lower ground. At 3,627 meters -- and substantially higher if you venture to El Alto -- the air is thin enough to make healthy people wake gasping in the night. Mate de coca, the coca leaf tea sold everywhere, is the ...

Read more: La Paz on Qualla

Image: Parallelepiped09 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/m/p/d/la-paz-wk/6mpd-la-paz-the-altitude-tax.mp3 0:06 5 full