• South America
    Trout appetizer and Bolivian wine
    A cholet: check out the statue of liberty at the top!Dragons appear at the top of this home.El Alto is the city at the top of La Paz's valley. 13k+ feet in elevation.View from the teleférico, La Paz's metro systemThe market stretched for at least a mile!Eiffel Tower choletSide of the titanic choletFront of the choletInside the event center in the titanic choletTitanic's captain's deckIf you can't afford much, public housing may be an optionBrightly painted by artist Mamani

    La Paz and El Alto Neighborhoods

    May 3 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    After a fun Bolivian 6-course meal with wine pairings last night we got to sleep in and then took a tour of the “cholets” and the enormous Sunday market in El Alto. El Alto is the city above La Paz, so it’s well over 13,000 feet in elevation and has nearly 2 million residents.

    Although most of El Alto is not wealthy, the few that are demonstrate their wealth and business acumen through the building of cholets. The word is a fusion of “chola” the word for an indigenous Bolivian lady and “chalet” the French villa.

    These huge 10+ story homes have themes—transformers, Batman, and even the Titanic.

    We then stopped at the other end of the wealth spectrum and saw El Alto’s version of the projects. Public housing developed by the government in 2023, brightly painted by artist Mamani.    Read more