La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia

In 1549, an urban plan was designed for the city of La Paz, with public areas, plazas, official buildings, and a cathedral. A large square in the centre of the city, La Plaza de los Españoles was chosen as the location for government buildings and the Cathedral. The city was firmly under control of the Spanish, until in 1781 it was besieged by Aymara Indians under leadership of their chief or King Tupac Katari. Thirty years later the city was besieged again by Indians for two months and there were uprisings against the Spanish forces under their leader Pedro Domingo Murillo in 1809. Murillo was hanged in the Plaza de los Españoles, but his name lived on: the plaza was later renamed Plaza de Murillo.

In 1825, after the decisive victory of the republicans at Ayacucho over the Spanish army in the course of the South American Wars of Independence, the city's full name was changed from Nuestra Señora de La Paz ("Our Lady of Peace") to La Paz de Ayacucho ("The Peace of Ayacucho"). In 1898, La Paz was made the de facto seat of the national government, with Sucre remaining the nominal historical as well as judiciary capital.

La Paz is a fascinating city in a spectacular setting, with a mixture of Colonial Spanish architecture and strong Aymara Indian influence, the women in their "chola" dress with voluminous skirts and bowler hats and its many markets, among others the Mercado de Hechicería ("Witches' Market), selling herbs, seeds and magical medicines like dried llama foetuses and Aymara carvings.

	Congreso Nacional	Plaza Murillo	Book monument	Iglesia de San Francisco
	Façade, San Francisco	Llama foetus medicines	Aymara carvings	Medicines, Witches' Market
	Vegetable and fruit market	Inner city, La Paz	Street market	Market women

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