By Andrew Gibson
Uploaded on 5 January 2008
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Tupiza is a beautiful town in the south of Bolivia, known as ´la joya de Bolivia´(the jewel of Bolivia). On this day the streets were full of schoolkids playing sports as part of day of nationwide protests organised by Bolivian President Evo Morales against the FIFA altitude ban (FIFA banned international matches from being played at an altitude above 2500 metres, out of concerns for the health of the players). Tupiza is a little over 2900 metres above sea level. Evo Morales wants to prove that it´s possible to play professional football at high altitudes, and has organised a series of demonstrations, culminating in a bizarre 15 minute football match played at an altitude of 6000 metres. The children went crazy when they saw me with a camera, and surrounded me, shouting at me to take their photo, following me wherever I went, until a teacher came and restored order.