One-word description of La Paz: hills. I had a rough time of it in this city. When I’m in a new city, I can usually go walking and exploring for hours. Between the lingering altitude sickness and the relentless hills, I had to really push myself to go out and explore this city.

The city seems to be built like a funnel, with thousands of buildings embedded into the surrounding hills. I swear there is no such thing as a level steet in La Paz. One would think that the laws of physics dictate that if I go on a round-trip walk, overall half the walk will be uphill, and half downhill. Not in La Paz. Every step felt like an uphill.

One thing I found intriguing is that cable cars (gondolas) are used as part of the public transport system. I’ve seen them at resorts and various tourist spots around the world, but these are actually used for daily commuting by the locals. There are 10 different lines, criss-crossing the city. They were very clean and efficient and easy to access.

Thank goodness for the cable cars, because the other alternative to public transport was these mini buses. Thousands of them ply the streets daily. They didn’t seem to have any designated stops; people just flag them down when they want to board or exit. I never quite got the hang of the signs on their windows indicating where they were going, so I was too chicken to try them.

The colors, the traffic, the congestion — the last time I had this kind of sensory overload was in India.