Bolivia - La Paz

MULTI-DAY TOURS	PACKAGES	TOURS	HOTELS	GENERAL INFO

La Paz

    Pedro de la Gasca, to whom the Spanish king had entrusted rule over the former Inca lands, commanded Captain Alonso de Mendoza to found a new city commemorating the end of the civil wars in Peru. Then the city of La Paz was founded on October 20th, 1548 under the name of La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz (The City of Our Lady of Peace). The city was first established in what today is Laja, on the Tiahuanaco road. Shortly after its founding, La Paz was moved to its present location, in the valley of the Chuquiago Marka.
    On 1549, Juan Gutierrez Paniagua was commanded to design and urban plan that will designate sites for public areas, plazas, official buildings. La Plaza de los Españoles, what today constitutes the Plaza Murillo, was chosen as the location for government buildings as well as the cathedral.
     Spain controlled La Paz with a firm grip and the Spanish king had the last word in all matters political. In 1781, for a total of six months, a group of Aymara people laid siege to the no longer peaceful city of La Paz. Under the leadership of Tupac Katari, they destroyed churches and government property. Thirty years later Indians laid a two-month siege on La Paz. In 1809 the struggle for independence from the Spanish rule brought uprisings against the royalist forces.
    Today La Paz is a vibrant city, growing and expanding in all directions. La Paz has a population of more than a million inhabitants. La Paz is the official government site.
     La Paz has different climate environments according to each zone's altitude. While the center of town is at 3,650 meters above sea level, the zone of Aranjuez is at 3,300 m. El Alto (where the international airport is located) is at 4,082 m. The average temperature in winter is 15C (59F) and 22C (72F) in summer. In the summer, rain falls on most afternoons, In the winter, days are slightly cooler, but the sky is mostly clear and sunny.

	1-800-333-9361