Snapshot: Perito Moreno Glacier

This shot was taken on the edge of the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park, around half an hour into the 'Big Ice' tour.

5 Tips for Beating Altitude Sickness in La Paz

Altitude sickness is a strange beast; it can have little to no effect on some people but leave others gasping for breath and feeling like they’ve aged forty years overnight.

This was certainly the case for me when I arrived in La Paz, a city precariously perched at 12,000 feet above sea level in the Bolivian Andes.

Whilst my girlfriend was blissfully unaffected by the sharp increase in altitude, as soon as we left the plane at El Alto Airport in La Paz I could feel the altitude taking an effect. By the time we were in a taxi on the way into the city, I felt noticeably sluggish.

By following these tips, you can lessen the effects of altitude sickness in La Paz, and get to see more of this fascinating city.

1. Drink Coca Tea

A popular and cheap method of dealing with altitude sickness in La Paz is chewing coca leaves or drinking them in a tea. The effect of the tea is mild and in no way comparable to coca in its illegal powdered form. Whilst this won’t transform you from a groggy to energetic state or alleviate the problem, it does take the edge off. Many hotels and hostels will provide coca leaves free of charge on request. In Cruz de Los Andes where we stayed twice the leaves were freely available in the breakfast room.

To prepare this, crumble the leaves up in a cup and then add boiling water. The flavour isn’t particularly pleasant, but then again neither is the overpowering lethargy of altitude sickness.

Coca tea - all legal and helps take the edge off altitude sickness

2. Don’t Exert Yourself

La Paz’s near vertical streets can be challenging at the best of times, and can feel an impossible challenge under the influence of altitude sickness. It’s important to pace yourself when walking, especially uphill.

3. Stay on a Lower Floor of your Accommodation

This may seem tongue-in-cheek but it genuinely helps, particularly if you are staying in lift-free accommodation! Our move down from the top (fifth) floor to the second floor definitely had a positive effect – not least because of the gruelling slog up five stories of steps! In the room itself, I felt tangibly less short of breath, my head stopped pounding and the tingling fingers subsided to some extent.

La Paz's higher reaches viewed from our hostel

4. Eat Sensibly

Eating a heavy meal is proven to worsen altitude sickness so resist temptation to gorge on the Bolivian staple of fried chicken. Eat something light in a sensible portion-size instead.

5. Avoid Alcohol & Drink Plenty of Water

La Paz isn’t renowned as a party city but there are more bars and hedonistic hostels beginning to spring up. Bear in mind that a hangover at altitude is a normal hangover squared. High altitude can cause pounding headaches anyway, especially lying down, so avoid alcohol until you’re accustomed to the elevated height.

Flying into La Paz from Santiago was a gamble which, if we’d had the luxury of more time, we probably wouldn’t have taken. It took about two days in La Paz to adjust, after which I felt no repeat of the symptoms in the weeks after, even at a higher altitude in Quito.

Have you experienced altitude sickness in La Paz or any other city? 

5 Things to do in La Paz

Precariously perched in the Andes Mountains at between 10,500 and 13,500 ft, and practically in the clouds themselves, La Paz can be a tiring city to navigate. That said, the de facto capital of Bolivia has some unique attractions that make its near-vertical streets well worth visiting. Here are five things to do in La Paz to get the most from your stay.

Look over the city from El Alto

Flying into La Paz does certainly have its pitfalls (altitude sickness isn’t much fun, even with coca tea to take the edge off!) but the view over the city from El Alto is certainly a plus. La Paz is a city full of dramatic photo opportunities but for the most impressive view over the city, the higher the better.

Bucking the usual trend that dictates that the higher the area, the richer it is, La Paz’s highest districts are actually its poorest. From up high in El Alto however, the full sprawling mass of La Paz is fully visible stretching into the valley below. Anyone flying into La Paz airport during daylight hours will be treated to a spectacular view on the descent into the city and again on the taxi/bus ride down the mountain (main image).

See Moon Valley

La Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is found at the bottom of La Paz in the Pedro Domingo Murillo Province. Whilst it doesn’t compare to the scenery of the Salt Flats, it makes a nice change from the hectic city streets and is just a short bus ride from the centre of La Paz.

There are some wonderful photo opportunities of the clay and sandstone monoliths which can change in appearance as the sun moves across the sky. It’s best to follow the trail that winds between the otherworldly rock formations.

Cholita Wrestling

Whether you’ve any interest in wrestling or not isn’t really an issue. Seeing two middle-aged women in traditional dress doing battle in the ring is certainly not an experience you get in every city around the world and is an interesting way to spend a Sunday evening. Yes, just like WWF it’s a bit of a pantomime - complete with mock arguments and even flirting with crowd members - but it’s a fun evening out.

Visit the Witches Market

One of La Paz’s most photographed areas is the el Mercado de Brujas (Witches Market), a colourful hotchpotch of small shops and stalls on Calle Jimenez and Calle Linares in the Rosario district. The market sells all sorts of unusual things like soapstone figurines, aphrodsiac remedies and the ubiquitous dried lama foetuses – customarily buried in the foundations of new buildings as an offering to the goddess Pachamama.

Tucked away just between the stalls is the Coca Museum – a small but comprehensive homage to Bolivia’s most notorious export. The museum also includes a café selling various coca-related products such as coca cake and sweets.

Grab a Street Market Bargain

There are some weird and wonderful bargains to be had on the streets of La Paz outside of the Mercado de Brujas. Taking a lung-busting walk up the almost vertical streets of Rosario, there are lines of small market stalls selling some bizarre football shirts amongst other things. 

More intriguing still are the frail old women that perch on the pavement of the city streets, selling the kind of items you’d expect to see in a chemist rather than a street corner. There’s toothpaste; shampoo; soap; stationary; all at a bargain price on the kerbside. These street side entrepreneurs have embraced the digital age too; I picked up a cut price USB stick which is still serving me well.