It is a bright morning in the national administrative capital, and we feel ready to explore the city. We leave our hostel, cross the busy avenue and twist through the neighbouring intricate street pattern to get to the centrally located Basílica de San Francisco.

The church is an Andean baroque church founded as a Franciscan convent in 1547, and the impressive building is today the oldest church in La Paz. The adjoining Plaza Mayor de San Francisco is the perfect place for people-watching since it is a popular local meeting place. People in La Paz are lively and colourful, and so are the streets at this high altitude.

It is one of those places where you can just sit down on the stone steps in the crowd and experience the hustle and bustle around the church. We spot several older couples passing, where he wears jeans and sneakers, whereas she is traditionally dressed in a long skirt and bright-coloured shawl. It is like two different worlds walking side by side.

Quite a few Bolivian cholitas are within sight – crossing the plaza – or even working as street vendors selling food and drinks. Regular Coca-Cola is sold in a budget version in small plastic bags with a straw through the closure.

We see women carrying their children, food or whatever they need on their backs, wrapped in an aguayo, a colourfully striped sling made of woven fabric.

Strolling around, we run into the coolest cholitas, native Bolivian women dressed traditionally. The Aymara women comb their hair into two braids reaching their hips (traditionally, the men do only one braid!). The braids are attached with a wool adornment, called a tullma, and they are part of the typical chola dress, which includes wide layered skirts, embroidered shawls and sometimes a bowler hat. The chola wardrobe is unique to the Aymara people.

Photo: Travel In Culture

What veritably surprises me is how this original and relatively old-fashioned society seemingly integrates into modern life here. The indigenous descendants and cholitas in Bolivia seemingly continue their traditional way of life in the cosmopolitan setting. Today’s cholitas in Bolivia use present-day amenities and yet manage to preserve the charm of the unsophisticated and unrefined original lifestyle. The younger generation presumably creates a symbiosis of their ancestral background and new trends. The girls were brought up in families where the women wore wide layered skirts and embroidered shawls, and at least some of the girls seem to continue the style.

Photo: Travel In Culture

Thus, the traditional chola or cholita fashion, existing ever since the Spanish reign in the 1700s, is still alive. The Aymara roots survive in the modern society. This way of dressing as cholitas may even now be regaining popularity in Bolivia. It seems that young women today are proud of wearing the chola dress, which can even be dressed appropriately up or down depending on the occasion.

Photo: Travel In Culture

The earthy lifestyle and the soul of the native culture are ubiquitous here in La Paz. It is admirable that the Aymara women keep on fighting for their culture – despite their generally lower level of education and a considerable number of them living below the poverty threshold.

Ascending the hilly streets, we arrive at the quarter around the cobblestone street Calle Jaén, flanked by the finest examples of pastel-coloured colonial architecture in La Paz. The street bears the name of a patriot, Apolinar Jaén, born in 1776, who worked in the trade of coca leaves. He formed a rebel army of slaves, Creoles and natives and took part in various battles until he, in 1810, was defeated and executed!

With this harsh history in mind, we are strolling through the tranquil street. Exhausted due to the thin air at this altitude, we finally reach the noteworthy street featuring unique and colourful houses in beautiful colonial style.

Picturesque Calle Jaén in La Paz | Photo: Travel In Culture

At a street near Calle Jaén, the female owner, a stout woman, persuades us to get into their tiny family-run restaurant with just a few tables. At first sight, it does not seem that there is room for us since no tables look available at all. However, things resolve in a different way here. We are kindly placed at different tables already partly occupied by other guests, and they don’t seem to take any notice!

I wonder how she caught our attention since there is no written menu. Just the word almuerzo at the entrance.

Almuerzo consists of a soup followed by a second course with a choice among three or four fast-mentioned alternatives. Chicken is always a safe choice – well-seasoned and tasty. Even a drink is included in the unbelievable price of 9 bolivianos. The drink may well include tap water, though, and since we dare not drink tap water in Bolivia due to water pollution issues, we discreetly add a water purification tablet.

The views from La Paz are amazing, with the scenery of the ultrahigh snow-capped Andes Mountain range in the background. La Paz is within an altitude range between 3,700 metres (12,100 feet) and 4,300 metres (14,100 feet).

Maybe surprisingly, the climate of La Paz is on the border between subtropical highland climate and tundra climate due to the elevation and the resulting powerful Andes sun. Nights are cold both in summer and winter, whereas days in general get decently warm. Now, astonished, we experience that winter days at La Paz altitude – with our eyes closed – can feel like beach days in summer back home.

Pigeons invade the squares of la Paz | Photo: Travel In Culture

Traffic is intense or, perhaps, more precisely, wildly chaotic, with travel lights missing everywhere. Traffic jams notably emerge here and there, as many vehicles seem to go as they please. In contrast to the seemingly pure air around the breathtaking snow-white mountain peaks surrounding La Paz, the city seems somewhat polluted.

We have been told that only taxis for four people exist in La Paz. Optimistically, we enquire at the reception if they can maybe do magic and call for a taxi for five. We need to go to El Alto, located, as the name refers to, at a high altitude above La Paz.

The receptionist apparently can do magic and promises to provide us with a taxi for five! When it arrives, it turns out to be a normal-sized taxi where we must squeeze the four of us together on the rear seat!

Not much can shock us any longer. That includes people walking on the highway with their goods. All along the road towards El Alto, we watch people walking, crossing, hitchhiking, resting, whatever…

Also, a couple of beautifully dressed Bolivian cholitas have chosen to do this stretch of busy road on foot. A woman, carrying her younger child, traverses the road, presumably unconcerned between the fast-going cars! Not a single driver seems to pay particular attention to her or anyone else walking along the road striping. Considering it from the local perspective, it is cheap – and the direct way of going to El Alto!

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