10 CultureShock! Bolivia
vertebrates alone (meaning that they exist only in this
region), and 356 species of mammals, 1,400 of birds, 203
of amphibians, 266 of reptiles and 600 of fi sh.
There are 14,000 species of native plants with seed, and
that excludes ferns, mosses and algae. There are 1,200
species of fern alone. A whopping 3,000 medicinal species
are used locally or regionally.
The greatest threats to this biodiversity are deforestation
(legal and illegal logging), slash-and-burn agriculture,
contamination and human use of this biodiversity which
surpasses its productive capability. Imported crops may lead
to the loss of variability of agrobiodiversity.
We could fi ll a section like this with superlatives, but
there is also a need for a basic appreciation of more
general regions.Highlands
Much of Bolivia’s population, including La Paz, is settled in
the cool highlands, between 3,650 and 4,250 m (12,000 and
14,000 ft) above sea level. According to Dr Gustavo Zubieta,
who dedicates his medical profession to the study of the
effects of high altitude, three-fi fths of Bolivia’s population
live over 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level.
La Paz is the primary highland city, but Potosí (mining),
Oruro (folk festivals) and El Alto, a former squatters’ settlement
and now a protagonist in revolutionary transformations, are
other signifi cant highland urban centres.The Lake Makes Waves
Lake Titicaca and its pilgrimage town of Copacabana, once the
centre of the Inca empire, is a region that exerts cultural and
economic infl uence far beyond its sparse population.The relative numerous population of the highlands is
deceiving. Not far from any urban centre, the hiker or trekker
can fi nd a near infi nite solitude and a caressing silence.
Environmentalists fl ock to the lowlands but I’ve found rare
species of tiny purple and yellow butterfl ies above the tree