REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia!  The airport is located in an area of the city called “El Alto” (or “The Highest”) – and it’s called that for a reason.  The elevation is about 13,500 feet.  Larger international flights have to land in the wee hours of the night when the air is slightly more dense.  That’s how we found ourselves making our way to our new home around 2:30am, slightly bleary eyed, but excited to see what the light of day would bring.

La Paz Airport, 2:30am.

The view from our new home - a 3-story condo.  At over 10,000' elevation, some could consider walking up to the 3rd floor bedroom a form of hazing.  Don't worry.  The guest bedroom is only up one flight.  Come visit!

There's a lawn area in front of our building that turns into a dog park in the afternoons.  Perfect!!!

Our house is located in another neighborhood called “Zona Sur” (South Zone).  It is lower here – about 10,400 feet – but that’s still plenty high enough to make us catch our breath.  The first week or so we were here, I would get winded just talking.  Walking on any incline necessitates occasional pauses.
  

The embassy supplied us with a bottle of oxygen for the first few weeks.  That's a first.

The street trees are trimmed to Bolivian height - not grande Australian/American height.  Watch your head!

My office is located back up the hill at about 11,000 feet and about 5 miles from our house.  That means a short commute is needed of either about 20-30 minutes by car, or slightly longer… by gondola.  I am opting for that latter option for several reasons – it’s quiet (no honking), it’s smooth (no zig zag turns and braking), and it’s like a Disneyland ride every day!  Bonus: it’s less than $1 roundtrip every day.  To suss out my new commute – and get a birds-eye view of our new city – we spent part of our first weekend making a circuit of the city’s teleferico system.

Gondolas definitely make quick work of scaling cliffs like these.

It's amazing how many houses and buildings here are built within feet of sheer cliffs.  No gracias.

What a view!  The buildings below aren't bad either.  :)

There are 10 lines in the city's teleferico system.  Most of them are criss-crossing cliffs and canyons.  This one goes right down the middle of a main road.

The view from the top of the yellow line.  Actually, it's the view from a fast-food chicken place at the top of the yellow line.  A million dollar view to accompany your $2 fried chicken.  Not bad.

I pictured La Paz being kind of brown and drab before I came here since it's so high and desert-like - but the colorful houses - and plenty of trees! - make for some lovely vistas.

A date night trip to the top of the yellow line - which besides the fast food chicken place also has a little coffee shop.  We stopped in for a cafecito and a view of the Harvest Supermoon rising over Mount Illimani earlier this month.

We’ve only been in our new city in the sky for a bit over a month, but we’ve taken full advantage of the weekends so far – visiting local markets, sightseeing at a local nature park, doing our share of eating (this city has AMAZING food!), taking in some musical shows at a little theater nearby, and celebrating a birthday.  We’ve wasted no time seeing all that La Paz has to offer.

Wandering through the streets of the "Witches Market," which despite its name (and a few taxidermied llamas used in good luck rituals), has a bunch of lovely shops and handmade wares.

The entry to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) nature park about 10 minutes outside La Paz, complete with llama statue - of course.

The formations in Valle de la Luna reminded us of Bryce Canyon.

There was a series of trails and bridges through the park that made for a lovely stroll.

View across the Valle de la Luna - and look at that blue sky!

This balancing boulder on top of a sandstone spire was called Madre Luna (Mother Moon).

Time to eat!  A local Spanish restaurant put on a paella feast in honor of Spain's national day.

Soup's (or paella's) on!

Not to be outdone, the local German Club put on an Oktoberfest celebration.

And now for dessert.  Birthday cake and a gathering with new friends at our place for my bday.

And now for some evening entertainment.  A little theater about a 15-minute (very slow) walk from our house puts on live music and theater productions.  This was The Greatest Showman - or El Gran Showman because the production was en espanol - complete with circus acts and a live band.

And this was the Bolivian Tony Starlight (Portland people, you know what I'm talking about) covering Frank Sinatra standards, in english, with a 15-piece big band.

Bolivia will be our home for the next two years.  That sounds like plenty of time… but given how much we’ve found to do here – and that we haven’t even made it out of La Paz yet! – I dunno.  We’re starting to make plans to explore farther afield – likely in December.  In the meantime, Bolivia elected a new president last weekend, and it looks like the country is in for a historic shift after 20+ years of socialism under former president Evo Morales.  There is an excitement among the people here in La Paz – and a frenzy within the U.S. government – so my work has been decidedly busier than I’d thought it would be a year ago.  I’m trying to take deep, cleansing breaths… but at these heights, that’s easier said than done.