If the Spanish would have known how big La Paz would eventually grow to, they would not have placed it at the bottom of such a steep canyon. The reason La Paz seemed so large to me riding in was because it is actually two cites that are conjoined. El Alto is the second largest city in Bolivia and it sits up on the high plateau above La Paz which is situated in a broad canyon. The El Alto–La Paz metropolitan area, formed by La Paz, El Alto, Achocalla, Viacha, and Mecapaca, constitutes the most populous urban area of Bolivia, with a population of about 2.2 million. La Paz is the highest capital in the world at somewhere between 12,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level, depending where you are in the city.

I spent most of the day wondering around the maze of streets that make up La Paz. It is a busy metro trying to modernize on top of a crowded colonial city. Skyscrapers are squeezed in along side historical palaces and cathedrals. Many of the streets dead-end with staircases which climb the vertical spaces between neighborhoods. Today is Saturday so the city was far quieter than yesterday when I had to fight my way into the central district. I was able to cover quite a bit of the city on foot though my favorite part was riding the network of cable cars.

Because of its topography, La Paz has build the largest cable car system in the world. The MI Teleférico (My Cablecar) system joins La Paz to El Alto and facilities traveling from one end of the city to the other in a mater of a few minutes. It makes total sense when you are flying over the streets that are choked with busses and cars. Each leg of my trip on the cable car cost 3 Bolivian Pesos or Bolivianos, about $.40USD. It was a pretty cheap way to see the city.

La Paz, similar to Kathmandu, is mostly made up of concrete reinforced buildings that cannot exceed five stories. This contributes to the population spawling up onto the hillsides. Many of the neighborhoods I walked through today didn't have any roads at all. Steep staircases and narrow alleyways were all that connected them.

I spent the late afternoon doing some motorcycle maintenance and looking at my route options for the next few days. I was reading that petrol is very difficult to find in the outlaying areas so I'm trying to plan ahead.