The real city of the sky! The highest capital in the world, commuting by cable car, there is a witch market hidden in the city.

Bolivia is located in central South America, bordering Brazil in the northeast, Paraguay in the southeast, Argentina and Chile in the south and Peru in the west, with a land area of 654.38+0.985 million square kilometers and a population of 654.38+0.39 million. She has a very special point, that is, she has two capitals: La Paz and Sucre. The former is the seat of the Bolivian government and parliament, while the latter is the seat of the supreme law.

La Paz is located in the valley between Mount Imap and Mount Illimani in South America, with an average elevation of 3,600 meters, making it the highest capital in the world. In Spanish, La Paz is recorded as "la Paz", which means "peace and harmony". It used to be just a small Indian village. 1548, placer gold was discovered in the La Paz River, so the Spanish general Alonso de Mendoza ordered the city to be built.

Today, the chief village woman of Rat Emperor will take you to see La Paz, a city growing in the clouds.

La Paz is not only the seat of the Bolivian government, the largest city and an important political, economic and cultural center in China, but also the city with the largest concentration of Indian indigenous people in China. Coupled with immigrants from other countries and the interweaving and integration of different cultures, La Paz is finally endowed with an unusually rich and unique look.

The whole city of La Paz can be divided into three areas: El Alto, Carakoto and the old city.

El Alto, located near the airport, is a poverty-stricken area and a residential area for migrant workers, with chaotic public security. The southern district belongs to the new district and is also a rich district. Similar to most of our development zones, most modern commercial centers are gathered here. For travelers, the old city is a real treasure area, which deserves our two-day in-depth exploration and is also the focus of this paper.

The urban pattern established by the Spanish is highly consistent: the most central position is the Grand Square, and a circle around the square is the core institutions, including the Presidential Palace, the Parliament Building and the Cathedral. Further outward, it is a residential area that spirals outward.

So is La Paz.

Morio plaza

The huge bronze statue standing in the center of the square is Pedro Domingo murillo, the pioneer of South America's struggle for national independence, and it is also the origin of the name of this square. Murio Square is located in the center of La Paz, opposite to the Presidential Palace of Bolivia. 1558 was originally called Weapon Square, and Poseidon Fountain stood in C. 1909 was changed to Murio. This heroic statue was created by Italian sculptor ferruzzi Cantera, and it has obvious neoclassical style.

There are also eight female sculptures around the main statue, four of which are the gods of time, symbolizing spring, summer, autumn and winter; The other four represent art, symbolizing painting, architecture, sculpture and music.

Many parents bring their children here to feed pigeons.

San Francisco Cathedral

Abbey was started by Frye de Morales in 1548 and completed in 158 1 year. 16 10 was affected by the snowstorm and collapsed. The renovation project started at 1743 and lasted for 10 years.

The exterior wall and interior decoration of the church is a combination of Spanish baroque art and local art.

1790, the main decoration of the church exterior wall was carved, and some interesting elements carved by craftsmen at that time can still be seen today, such as litchi, a fruit with South American characteristics. The stone pillars restored above the main entrance symbolize three important cultures of La Paz: Tiavanaco culture, Inca culture and modern culture. What is special about this church is that it has only one bell tower, which is different from the traditional practice of symmetry between most churches.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 16:00- 18:00.

Admission: the church is free, and the museum is 7 bolivianos

Witch market

Bolivia not only has vast plateau scenery, but also is one of the countries with the most complete preservation of Indian culture and tradition in South America. Half of the total population are Indians, who continue the ancient way of life to this day. If you want to experience the authentic and mysterious Indian lifestyle up close, you can't miss the witch market in La Paz.

Mercado de las Brujas is actually a street, which is the most unique place in La Paz. Streets made of stone slabs slide obliquely to the city center, and the mothers who set up stalls are wearing silk shawls with long tassels, knee-length pleated skirts and thick braids, selling witchcraft props that they believe in.

Yes, we can not only buy more popular souvenirs such as alpaca wool products, but also see witches and their props.

cable car

La Paz is the highest capital in the world. For the residents of this city, it seems to be living in a "bowl".

From the bottom of the bowl in the city center to the surrounding mountains, the altitude difference is several hundred meters, and houses of all sizes are densely stacked on the bowl wall. From a certain point of view, La Paz is a bit like Chongqing, with slopes everywhere and no regular roads.

The special environment has given birth to two characteristics: first, the porters here are particularly popular, and second, the cable car has been put on the list of urban transportation.

The cable car system is said to be made in Switzerland. You know, it costs tens of euros to take a cable car tour in Switzerland, and here you can overlook the city of the sky from the air as long as you convert it into RMB 3 yuan.

The cable car in La Paz is divided into three lines: red, yellow and green. It is the longest indoor cable car in the world.

We took a taxi from Murrio Square to Estación Central. After buying the tickets, we queued for more than an hour before finally getting on the cable car.

The cable car is actually very dense, but there are more people sitting there. ...

The architectural style of Central Station is the fusion of modernity and tradition.

After the first red line was opened in 20 14, there were as many as 10 cable car lines and 36 cable car stations in La Paz in 20 19, connecting different places between La Paz and El Alto in all directions. Because the cable car is used as public transportation rather than sightseeing in La Paz, the fare is surprisingly cheap: only 3 yuan RMB.

We took the world's highest cable car system directly to El Alto, the satellite city of La Paz-4095 meters above sea level.

Although El Alto is a satellite city, its population has surpassed that of La Paz-nearly 654.38 million +0 million. It may be the only million-dollar city in the world with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters.

Don't rush into town after El Alto gets off the cable car. The terrace here is a good viewing platform, which can not only overlook the city of the sky, but also see the snow-capped mountains if you are lucky.

In addition to the cable car station, it is a market that locals like very much. The clothes are nothing new, and even look rustic, but the food stalls are easy to visit, and they basically sell local food, which is a good place to experience local specialties.

There is another windfall by taking the red cable car.

Looking down in the cable car, you will see rows of well-regulated factories-like buildings. At first, you didn't understand what it was, but on closer inspection, you found that it turned out to be a graveyard.

Sure enough, life and death are a line. This structure is no different from the life world: living in a cubicle with average economic conditions and living in a villa with good conditions, haha.

At an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters, there are no regular and smooth roads, and the traffic depends entirely on the cable car. The mysterious witch market is hidden in the city center, and the cemetery and the community live next to each other. La Paz is indeed the magic capital-the magic capital.

Do you yearn for such a place?