Bolivia

Much of Bolivia’s life is lived on the Altiplano, a cold, windswept plateau between two ranges of the Andes, at heights where newcomers gasp for breath. Lake Titicaca lies at its northern end; to the south, the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat on earth, turns into a mirror after rain. East of the mountains the land plunges through the Yungas valleys to rainforest in Beni, farmland around Santa Cruz and the thorny Chaco in the south-east.

Tiwanaku, by Lake Titicaca, raised gateways of finely cut stone and drew pilgrims from across the southern Andes from around AD 500 to 1000. In 1545 the Spanish found silver in the Cerro Rico above Potosí, and forced Indigenous labour in its mines made the town one of the wealthiest of the empire. Bolivia declared independence in 1825, naming itself after Simón Bolívar. It fought Paraguay over the Chaco in 1932–35, and the revolution of 1952 nationalised the tin mines and gave every adult the vote.

Aymara and Quechua communities shape highland life, and offerings to Pachamama, the earth mother, sit easily beside Catholic feasts. Masked devils dance the diablada at the Oruro carnival, and each January the Alasita fair in La Paz sells miniature houses and banknotes for Ekeko, a god of plenty, to bless. Natural gas from Tarija, zinc and silver from San Cristóbal, soybeans from the eastern plains and quinoa earn the exports, and the brine beneath Uyuni holds vast lithium reserves.