TRAVEL AND TOURS

There were times of bloody battles in the stony highlands of the Andes. Evil winds of desolation descended from the snowy picks to the valleys. It was all war and fright, blood and death, because in the lands, stolen to the mythical sons of the Sun, the Spaniards brandished the sword and loaded the guns to support their desires of wealth and to kill the ambition of their own people.

When the clamors of civil war ceased, Don Pedro de la Gasca ordered Captain Alonso de Mendoza, to create a city to commemorate the end of confrontations. The command was completed on October 20th, 1548, when "the discordant ones in agreement, in peace and love, joined, and a town of peace was founded for perpetual memory", as read the plate sent seven years later by King Carlos V.

La Paz was founded to be the headquarters of the government of Bolivia and capital of the department of the same name. Since its foundation, the city has known how to harmonize those features of its cultural and architectural past, with discreet flashes of modernity that are authentic brushstrokes of the future in the Andean heights.

Squares are invaded by hundreds of hungry doves while in the craft-markets you hear whispers in Quechua and Aymara. The valley resembles the moon and its streets are in a perpetual ascent that ends in sublime colonial churches, but it is necessary to walk slowly, to avoid the rigors of the 3,640 m.a.s.l.

Days of peace and of an exaggeratedly blue sky in a jewel of the Andes that glows under the protective presence of the Illimani (6,403 meters of altitude), the powerful guardian of the most important city in Bolivia, built when the clamours of the civil war among the Spaniards ceased.

SURROUNDINGS

Tiahuanaco: This imposing temple is located at 72 kilometers from La Paz and was built by the men of the Tiahuanaco culture that developed in the highland, approximately between the years 1580 B.C and 1172 A.C. They had a great influence in the entire Andean region.

The Tiahuanacotas archaeological remains, mainly a ceremonial and religious place, are one of the finest samples of the architectural development reached by the first inhabitants of the Andean heights.

The Door of the Sun, the Temple of Kalasasaya, the Pyramids of Puma Punku and Akhapana, the monoliths Ponce and Fraile and a great quantity of tenon heads, are the main monuments that can be appreciated.

Town of Tiahuanaco: Around the archaeological area, we can find the small town of Tiahuanaco, and the colonial church of San Pedro, whose walls were lifted with stones brought from the walls of the pre-Columbian temple.

Laja: Located in front of Tiahuanaco, it was here where Captain Alonso de Mendoza founded originally the city of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. However, three days later, bad weather made him change his mind. Nowadays, the biggest attraction in this town is its colonial church.

Valley of the Moon: If it weren't for the asphalt serpentine or the coughs due to pollution, you could even think that you had left the earth and had been transferred to the surface of the moon. In this corner of La Paz, less than 20 kilometers from downtown, wind erosion has given some incredible, surprising forms to gigantic rocks.

Chachaltaya mountain: The Chacaltaya (5,580 meters high), is part of the Royal Mountain range of the Oriental Andes and it is only at 36 kilometers from La Paz. It is the highest skiing site of the world. From it, you can enjoy the view of the cold summits of the Illimani, the Mururata and the Huayna Potosí, among others, in all their magnificence.