Overview of Land and History 19in La Paz, Potosí and other highland cities, where the dictum
becomes ‘light, light, light.’ If the windows in your apartment
or house do not face the sun, the cost of your rent or value
of your home goes down.
There is a signifi cant temperature difference between the
sun and the shade. Even the most modern buildings, with
the exception of fi ve-star hotels, do not have central heating
and air conditioning. Why should they, if the average daytime
high may reach the seventies?
Interior climate in the highlands causes human beings
to identify unconsciously with houseplants. Plants bend
toward the sunlight. So do we, in La Paz or anywhere on the
Altiplano. During the day, we fi nd ourselves drifting toward
that room where the windows take in the sun most effi ciently.
This is not by intellectual design. We do so unconsciously,
just like plants.
The prospective buyer or renter should visit the potential
home both during the morning and the afternoon. In
preferred housing, some windows face the sun in the
morning, others in the afternoon. One couple I know decided
not to purchase a beautiful condominium at a bargain price