Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wood stalls or the exhibits themselves (antique garments, chalices, reliquaries and the like),
is the new perspective of the church from the choir's edge, verily a balcony seat to die for.
You'll also get thrillingly close to the interior of the domes themselves and their magnifi-
cently worked stone.
Look out for the narrow door leading to the even narrower stone staircase up to the
roof
.
Come near closing time and you'll be able to wander alone among the ageing bronze be-
hemoths in the bell tower, with the weathered pantiles of the domes spread out below and a
monks-eye view of La Paz in its chaotic entirety.
Calle Sagárnaga
To the south of Plaza San Francisco lies
Calle Sagárnaga
, La Paz's main tourist street (along
with Linares, which bisects it), which is more crowded than it's ever been with hotels, tour
agencies, restaurants, handicraft shops and stalls, with more seemingly opening every week.
Often referred to as “Gringo Alley”, the street has in fact always catered to travellers: in the
colonial era, this was where wayfarers en route between Potosí and the Peruvian coast would
be put up, and several of the buildings now occupied by hotels were actually built for that
purpose in the eighteenth century.
Mercado de Hechicería
Linares and Jiménez • Daily, hours vary-Stalls open as early as 6am and close as late as 8pm in summer
The
Mercado de Hechicería
,orWitches' Market, provides a fascinating window onthe usu-
ally secretive world of
Aymara mysticism
and
herbal medicine
. The stalls here are heavily
laden with a colourful cornucopia of ritual and medicinal items, ranging from herbal cures
for minor ailments like rheumatism or stomach pain, to incense, coloured sweets, protective
talismans and dried llama foetuses. These items are combined in packages known as
mesas
or
pagos
and burned or buried as offerings to placate the various tutelary spirits and magical
beings that are believed to hold sway over all aspects of daily life. There's no clear border
between the medicinal and magical here: the
Yatiris
and
Kallawayas
-
indigenous tradition-
al healers
- who are the market's main customers adopt a holistic approach in which a herbal
cure for a specific symptom is usually combined with magical efforts to address the imbal-
ances in the supernatural world that may be responsible for the ailment.
To get some insight into the uses and meaning of it all, it's worth chatting with the stall-
holders and perhaps making a purchase or two. Spending a few bolivianos on, say, a magic
charm to protect you during your travels will certainly make the stallholders more talkative
and amenable to having their photos taken, and could even prove to be a wise investment.
Museo de la Coca
Linares 906 • Daily 10am-7pm • Bs10 •
cocamuseum.com
