JE 23

La Paz

Tim

Tuesday, February 19 – La Paz

I’ll lead off with a picture of last night’s “supermoon”, taken from the balcony outside of my hotel room.

Today was fairly low-key. I spent a lot of time traveling around La Paz via their terrific Teleferico (cable car) public transit system. Using cable cars to move around this city makes a lot of sense, considering the brutal traffic, staggering hills, and poor air quality. The system consists of 25 stations along eight lines, and I hit 15 and five of those, respectively. Each journey along a line costs about 50 cents.

Here are some pictures from the cable cars and the stops on my journey…


Starting out on the Linea Roja – a short line running from the tourist area to the hills in the SW of the city
I have now transferred to Linea Naranja. This line runs E-W from the tourist area to the city centre.
View of La Paz train station
This cable car experience is totally different from the others I’ve ridden. Previously, they’ve all been in mountain or wooded areas. Being in an urban area is so voyeuristic – you’re riding right over the top of people’s homes, businesses, lives, etc.
This is Linea Blanca, which runs mostly above a major thoroughfare (and looks into apartments!)
Linea Amarilla is a long line that offers the best views of the city
These next few pictures were taken as I walked around the area outside the station. Here I found it interesting to see the type of homes that have this amazing view.
That is a brutal walk up!
The lunchtime crowd outside the station
Linea Celeste runs from the city centre to the SE edge of the city
Below the line is Mercado Camacho (which includes all of these red and green corrugated roofs)
I had to go into the market to inspect! There were food stalls, restaurants, craft items, and games – lots of games, including carnival arcades, pool, and, of course, foosball!

Wednesday, February 20 – La Paz

Tomorrow I’m on to Ecuador, so today I’ve been relaxing and doing some trip planning (thought it would be a good idea to book a hotel for tomorrow night!). It’s going to be an ugly day. I depart La Paz at 4:30am, have a 10 hour layover in Lima, and arrive in Quito around 6:30pm. (Who booked this itinerary anyway! Cheapo Tim, of course! (The cost of the flight is $370)) I need to be at the airport two hours early, so I’ll be departing my hotel around 2am. The flight from La Paz to Lima is about 2 hours and the flight from Lima to Quito is around 2 1/2 hours. I didn’t spring for any seat upgrades on these flights. (figured I’d be sleeping most of the time anyway!)

More costs – La Paz taxi to airport: $10; Quito airport transfer booked through hotel: $35 (thought I’d splurge after the long day, and it’s only $10 more than a regular taxi). The hotel is booked for four nights, with the original rate being $60/night (incl breakfast), but I’ve earned a free night from Hotels.com, so that brought the rate down to $50/night.

I’ve planned a three week stay in Ecuador. I have no itinerary, but my main early focus will be booking a Galapagos Island boat trip. I’ve read where good last-minute deals can be had – especially if you have a flexible schedule (like me!).

7 thoughts on “JE 23”

  4. The cable car public transportation system is so interesting! I haven’t seen anything like that before, but it does make sense. Great pictures of all the views too. Hope your next travels went well!

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