El Alto is built on a very dry, flat, sandy, dusty and inclement plain with hardly a tree in sight for miles and miles. In order to get to Lake Titicaca we had to go through El Alto. It was quite an experience. Most of the buildings here are incomplete yet people are living in them. They are made from brick and concrete and few are painted. This creates a very a gloomy cityscape which is even more accentuated by the blowing dust. Paint is expensive, and Bolivians are poor. And residents believe their property taxes will rise once a home is finished and painted. Government officials say that is no longer true, but the belief, and the lack of paint, persist. |
