Plaza Avaroa is the hub of Sopocachi, the neighbourhood where most of La Paz's better cafes and restaurants cluster. The plaza itself is a pleasant public square with a monument to Eduardo Avaroa — a Bolivian hero of the War of the Pacific (1879–84) who famously refused to surrender when surrounded by Chilean forces. The quote attributed to him just before he was killed ("Surrender? Your grandmother should surrender!") has become something of a national catchphrase.
The streets around the plaza are good for an afternoon or evening walk. The restaurants here range from good cheap Bolivian almuerzos to internationally ambitious places (Gustu is a few blocks south). The cafes are where La Paz's middle class sit on weekend mornings reading and working — a surprisingly comfortable, lived-in scene for a city at 3,600 metres.