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Earth from Space 2001 Calendar

This image shows the area of La Paz, Bolivia. La Paz is the capital city of Bolivia and the largest city in Bolivia, with a population approaching two million. La Paz is situated at the edge of the Altiplano, in a narrow Andean River valley at an elevation of 3660 m (12,000 ft)­­making it the highest capital city in the world. (The Altiplano is the high inland plateau located between the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Oriental belts of the Andes Mountains in South America.) The bright regions on the tops of the mountains result from year-round snow cover, and the curved valleys were carved by glaciers and serve to drain the mountains. The image was obtained by SIR-C/X-SAR on the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 18, 1994 and shows an area about 16 km (10 mi) on a side.