Overview of Land and History 9melancholic high plains. In fact, approximately one-sixth
of all Bolivians have decided to stay in or go to greater La
Paz, which is located in a huge gash in the Andes, referred
to as ‘The Hole.’ La Paz’s multi-levelled topography averages
3,600 m (12,000 ft) above sea level.
Easy Money
Looking down on La Paz from snow-covered Mount Illimani 57 km
(35 miles) away, you may recall the scene from Rodney Dangerfi eld’s
fi lm, Easy Money, in which a close-up of a crowded Italian wedding
feast shifts to an aerial view: hundreds of people cramped into one
tiny back yard, while all the other back yards remain empty.Why is one-sixth of Bolivia’s population crowded into and
spilling out of La Paz? Not because of an abundant supply of
oxygen, for sure. Nor for a roomy lifestyle.
La Paz is the centre of Bolivian commerce, culture and
government. It is here where people with nothing but a
hope and a prayer converge—entrepreneurs and indigenous
Quechuas with only lemons to sell, recent college graduates
and highland Aymara peasants with little formal schooling,
international restaurateurs and Cholas, with their dark bowler
hats, two long braids of black hair joined together at the end,
and bulky embroidered pollera skirts, who set up pavement
lunch-stands near construction sites.
Central La Paz is not what you would call roomy. Speeding
tickets are rare because a slow bus is always in front of you,
and contorted streets and anarchistic pedestrians are better
than traffi c cops at slowing down potential hot-rodders. Bank
robberies are unheard of—a quick getaway, on foot or by car,
is virtually impossible.
Regions: the World in Microcosm
Bolivia is tucked into a vast territory called the Tropical Andes,
the richest and most biodiverse region on earth. One sixth
of all the world’s plant life is contained in this one per cent
of the world’s land mass.
Within the dozens of clearly-defi ned ecological regions
and transition zones are at least 100 endemic species of