THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bolivia - page 132

Textiles and clothing Some of the best offerings are the traditional textiles from all over
the highlands, including beautiful handmade ponchos, woven belts, blankets and women's
shawls that make very nice wall hangings. Be warned, though, that a well-made poncho with
an intricate design can cost well over Bs700 ($100). For a more moderately priced and prac-
tical souvenir, you can't beat the llama and alpaca wool jumpers, socks and hats. You can
pick up a hat for just Bs10 and a warm sweater for as little as Bs60 on the street stalls, though
you can pay several times that for a finely made and professionally designed one in some of
the shops.
Leather and jewellery Leather items are pretty good value - especially the hard-wearing
andstylishbeltsandbagsdecorated withstripsoftraditional weaving.Silverjewellery isalso
abundant and very good value, though the silver content of the stuff sold on the streets isn't
always as high as vendors claim it is.
Musical instruments There are several good musical instrument shops on Sagárnaga and
Linares where you can pick up some beautiful handmade guitars, charangos and other
stringed instruments, as well as cheaper quena flutes and zampoñas (panpipes), which make
excellent gifts.
ARTESANÍA SHOPS
Artesanía Sorata Sagárnaga 363 02 2485159; artesaniasorata.com ; map . Specializing
in high quality, handmade alpaca garments since 1978, this company was operating on fair-
trade principles well before the concept became commonplace, and currently runs various
volunteer-run community programmes.
Ayni Illampu 704 02 2457487, aynibolivia.com ; map . For almost a decade Ayni has
flown the flag for fair trade artesanía in La Paz, and is now a member of the World Fair
Trade Organization. Look out especially for the “orange art”, oven-dried orange peel made
into exquisite keepsakes; not quite as intricate as the ones sold in Rurrenabaque (see Casa de
Campo for more details) but still a great buy. There's also a recently opened branch at Av
Montenegro 911, in San Miguel, Zona Sur.
Jalsuri Sagárnaga 363, 2nd floor 02 2792359; jalsuri.org ; map . Sequestered on the far
side of a courtyard off Sagárnaga and run by a non-profit foundation working with more
than three thousand artesanía producers all over Bolivia (over eighty percent of whom are
women, and many of whom are the wives of Potosí miners). Their eclectic range includes
Pachamontera hats from Sucre, cactus wood from Tupiza, handsomely finished lamps from
Chiquitanía and pricey replicas of gilt-edged colonial-era furniture.
BOOKS, MAPS AND OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT
Andean Base Camp Illampu 863 02 2463782, [e-mail] ;
map . The number one company in La Paz for equipment rental, and the place where many
of the operators come. The shop - tiny, usually full, with tents getting rolled and unrolled -