The world’s highest and longest urban gondola system has transformed the way people commute in Bolivia’s capital.
At 11,913 feet, La Paz is the world’s highest capital city. Clinging to the sides of a natural depression in the Andean escarpment, it really is one of the most stupefying cities on earth. Endless shanties and skyscrapers hang from ochre cliffs and canyons, with snow-capped Illimani an ever-present backdrop. But its dramatic location, coupled with decades of poor urban planning, meant that, for decades, it was also a commuter’s nightmare.