Marco Villanueva moved to La Paz from Cochabamba in 2014 to study engineering at UMSA university. He never left. Now 34, he runs a small tour company, lives in Sopocachi — a neighborhood he describes as "the part of La Paz that thinks it's Buenos Aires" — and has strong opinions about where tourists should and shouldn't eat.
I sat down with him at a cafe on Calle 20 de Octubre, where he ordered a coffee and I ordered coca tea because the altitude was, as usual, making my heart feel like it was running a marathon while I sat still.
Marco: Sit down. Seriously. Don't try to explore on day one. The altitude will punish you. I've seen tourists arrive at the airport in El Alto at 4,061 meters, power through with excitement, and end up in a clinic by evening with severe altitude sickness. Drink coca tea — it genuinely works. Chew coca leaves if you're open to it. And accept that for the first 48 hours, walking up a flight of stairs will make you breathless.
I've lived here 12 years and I still get winded climbing to my fourth-floor apartment if I've been at sea level for more than a week.
Marco: The comedores in Mercado Lanza and Mercado Rodriguez. Not the tourist-facing stalls at the entrance — go deeper inside, past the meat section, past the grain vendors. The women who run the lunch counters have been cooking the same recipes for decades. A full almuerzo — soup, main course, juice, sometimes dessert — is 15-18 bolivianos [$2-2.50 USD].
For salteñas, skip the tourist recommendations. Go to Salteñas Giselle on Calle Potosi near Plaza del Estudiante. They sell out by 10:30AM. Get there at 9. The crust is flakier, the filling has more spice, and they cost 5 bolivianos each [$0.70].
For dinner, El Solar on Calle Cochabamba does the best pique macho in the city — a mountain of chopped steak, sausage, fries, tomatoes, onions, and locoto peppers. It's meant for two people. I eat it alone. No shame.
Marco: They think it's dangerous. It's not — at least not more than any Latin American city. The areas tourists visit — Sopocachi, San Pedro, the center — are perfectly safe during the day. At night, use a radio taxi instead of walking alone. The Tigo Taxi app works well. Don't hail taxis on the street, especially near bus terminals.
The fake police scam still happens, unfortunately. Someone pretending to be a tourist asks you for directions, then a "police officer" appears and wants to check your wallet. Real police never ask to see your money. If it happens, walk to the nearest shop or hotel and call 110.
Marco: I've biked it twice. Once with Gravity Bolivia — excellent equipment, professional guides — and once with a cheap operator that a friend booked for $35. The second time, the brakes on my bike were barely functional, the guide was clearly hungover, and there was no support vehicle. That trip was genuinely dangerous.
Pay $70-100 for a reputable operator. Gravity, Barracuda, or World's Death Road. Check the bikes before you start. If the brakes feel soft, demand a different bike. People have died on that road — not often, but it happens, and it's almost always with budget operators cutting corners.
Marco: Sopocachi is my bias — it's where I live. Good cafes, restaurants, and it has a slightly bohemian vibe. Avenida 6 de Agosto and the streets around it are walkable and pleasant.
San Pedro is more local and less polished — the San Pedro market there has better prices than Mercado Lanza. The prison tours that used to be famous are gone, thankfully. Those were exploitative.
For views, take the yellow or green cable car lines. The neighborhoods in between aren't tourist zones, but looking OUT from the cars over the canyon is staggering.
Avoid: the area immediately around the bus terminal at night. It's sketchy.
Marco: [laughs] So there's a property tax law in Bolivia where you pay more once a building is "complete." So people leave the rebar sticking out of the roof, leave the top floor unfinished, and technically the building is still "under construction" indefinitely. It's a completely open tax dodge. Everyone knows. The government knows. Nobody does anything about it because everyone does it.
It makes the skyline look permanently under construction, which... it is, technically.
Marco: The Mirador de las Almas in Cota Cota. It's a series of stone arches on a hilltop overlooking the valley. Not well-signposted, hard to find without a local, but the view is better than Killi Killi and there's never anyone there. Take a taxi — about $4 from the center.
Jaen Street (Calle Jaen) in the old town is a preserved colonial street with five small museums, all free on Tuesdays. The Musical Instruments Museum is surprisingly good. Most tourists walk past it.
And Coroico — not just as the endpoint of Death Road, but as a destination. It's a mountain town 3 hours from La Paz at 1,750m altitude, surrounded by cloud forest. The warmth after La Paz's cold feels miraculous. Stay a night at a finca (farm stay) for $15-20 and eat mandarin oranges off the trees.
Marco: It's not magic, but it works. The alkaloids in coca leaves are mild stimulants that increase oxygen absorption. Every hotel lobby has free coca tea. Drink 3-4 cups a day for the first few days. Chewing the leaves is stronger — buy a bag at any market for $0.50.
Pharmacies sell Sorojchi pills (aspirin + caffeine + salophene) for about $1. Locals take them too. But the tea is the traditional approach and it honestly works as well as anything.
Do NOT try to take coca leaves or coca products out of Bolivia. Legal here, illegal almost everywhere else.
Marco: The cable cars. I know that sounds like a tourist answer, but I mean it as a resident. Before Mi Teleferico, getting from El Alto to Sopocachi took 90 minutes in traffic. Now it takes 20 minutes, and you fly over the entire canyon. The city went from being divided by geography to being connected by air.
If you're exploring more of the region, Salar de Uyuni offers a complementary experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of the region, Cusco offers a complementary experience worth considering.
I ride the red line home from El Alto every time I visit my sister there, and I still look out the window. The city in the canyon, the snow on Illimani, the sun going down — after 12 years, I still look.
That tells you something.
