Population: 8 million - Capital City: La Paz (pop.1.2m)
- Time difference: -4 hours GMT
- Language: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Bolivia is generally regarded as a curious backwater (if you can describe a land-locked country as such), famous only for the notoriety of the likes of Che Guevara and Butch Cassidy.
But Bolivia is one of the most quintessentially South American countries. Travelling overland, driving across the harsh deserts of the altiplano, or plunging down the canyons and deep valleys leading to the orchards of the sub-tropical lowlands and thence to virgin jungle, the visitor observes a variety of awesome landscapes peopled by communities whose lifestyle has changed little since the time of the Spanish conquest.
La Paz is the world’s highest capital and boasts the world’s highest ski run, golf club and international airport.
Lake Titicaca is acknowledged as the highest navigable lake in the world, with its vivid blue waters shimmering under a blistering sun. Its tranquil islands, reed beds and abundant birdlife makes it one of the world’s most beautiful lakes.
Isolated geographically, some of the country’s most distinctive and well-preserved colonial cities await the visitor: Sucre, with its white-washed houses, cobbled streets and benign, sunny climate, contrasts with the grandiose architecture of the once thriving PotosÃ, which four hundred years ago rivalled London and Paris as one of the largest, richest cities of the western world.