Neighboring Peru Is A Wildly Underrated Mountainous South American Country With Incredible Markets And Nature

Visitors will want to prepare for altitude sickness when visiting the world's steepest capital city. At nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, La Paz, Bolivia, may have some travelers craving oxygen, but for the intrepid, the heights promise more rewards than detriments. La Paz is located at the foot of Illimani, the second-tallest mountain in Bolivia. The ever-present peaks are just an introduction to a country that's packed with awe-inspiring nature.

Lots of travelers have visited Peru, but just next door, wildly underrated Bolivia offers its own unique assets, including incredible markets. The first stop on any list should be the Witch Market. The shopping destination is notorious for its unusual wares, including more than its fair share of mummified animals, among them fuzzy llama fetuses. Whether you're seeking a memento mori or believe that one of the dark-hat-sporting witches there can help you attract a partner or protect you on your journey, it's one of Bolivia's most sought-after dark tourism destinations (alongside the active mine site of Potosí).

For travelers who are easily spooked, it's probably better to focus instead on Bolivia's cuisine. That's best achieved at multi-level Mercado Lanza in La Paz. It's the location of Doña Elvira Goita's Choripan, a sandwich made with crusty bread stuffed with chorizo, cheese, fresh vegetables, and pickles, finished with a fiery salsa called llajua. In Bolivia's other, legal capital of Sucre, don't miss the gigantic Central Market and its stalls selling salteñas. The brothy, stew-filled pockets fall somewhere between a beefy empanada, a pot pie, and a soup dumpling. As compelling as they are, it's difficult to understand why it's hard to find them outside of Bolivia.

Big cities like La Paz or Sucre are an excellent way to start a Bolivian journey, but the landlocked country that borders Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile is as geographically diverse as its size suggests. The most famous of the country's treasures is the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat on the planet. Often reflective, owing to a layer of water on top of the salt, the more than 4,000-square-foot wonder is one of Earth's greatest Instagram destinations, whether it's a dry day or a wet one.

Other photographic must-sees include Parque Nacional Torotoro, in the Andes mountains in the country's southwest. It's known as the site of many dinosaur tracks and even as the resting place for Cretaceous-era bones. In contrast to the rocky heights, part of the Amazon rainforest also lies in northern Bolivia, taking up 229,985 square miles. There, you're likely to see monkeys, colorful birds, and even the world's largest rodent, the capybara.

Travelers who prefer anthropological finds will be stunned by the ancient temples of Bolivia. The fertile area surrounding Incallajta may have supplied food as far afield as the Peruvian Inca city of Machu Picchu. The eponymous largest settlement of the Tiwanaku people features a gate that may have served as a calendar to the ancient people, as well as large statues.

Many of the Incan and pre-Incan settlements are located along the body of water known as a sort of fertile crescent to the civilization, Lake Titicaca, where Incas believed the sun was born. Though humorously named to Anglophones, the moniker for the waters along the border of Bolivia and Peru comes from a Quechua word meaning "stone puma." It's about three hours from La Paz, so many travelers choose to visit the area as a day trip. Others stay longer, based in Copacabana.

Prefer to remain closer to the big city? Though less popular among tourists than the Salar de Uyuni, the Moon Valley offers one of the world's most outrageous landscapes, only 6 miles from La Paz. The fifth-largest country in South America is a place to reach great heights, both literal and figurative, but because of its size and the scope of its unique vistas, it may be impossible to pack all of its sights into a single trip. All the more reason to try.