It's impossible not to notice the altitude here in La Paz, capital of Bolivia. There are such a lot of mountains around, for one thing. And they're all so high!
In one of South America's premier cocaine-producing nations, statements such as "You wouldn't believe how high I was last night" might arouse suspicion. Not in La Paz, though.
Everything you do or see here, everywhere you go seems to break a personal height-related record. New arrivals "height drop" constantly, almost compulsively: "Was up at Chacaltaya ski-slope today," they announce in the smug but reverential tones usually used to describe a brush with the bishop. "Highest piste in the world -- 5,400 meters. Sheet ice. And there wasn't even a ski lift!"