La Paz: Shopping at the Witches Market

Mark sampling the coca cookies
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We had heard a lot about La Paz from guidebooks etc but actually getting there and seeing it for ourselves was a pretty amazing experience. A lot of the city is precariously perched on the sides of a valley and walking around the place can be pretty hard work. It's easy to get puffed out with the high altitude combined with the hilly streets.

We stayed in a place called Hotel Fuentes which was recommended to us and had a really good locations right opposite the Witches Market. The room even had a view of a very grand looking Cathedral next door.

I then looked up and noticed a few furry baby llamas hanging up near the doorway.

Witches Market where we bought Pachamama amulets
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We had a total of 2 days in Lap Paz before we needed to head north and had heard La Paz was the place for shopping, so that is what we wasted no time in doing! Along our street were heaps and heaps of touristy shops selling Alpaca wool jumpers, tacky souvenirs and silver jewelry for really cheap prices.  I was hoping to get some nice silver jewelry as gifts for friends but although the stuff I saw looked great at first, on closer inspection it didn't really look like the best quality so I didn't end up getting anything after 2 days of searching! What was really annoying is that each of the 20 shops we looked into sold exactly the same thing! If only one shop was a bit different I might have bought something.

Colonial buildings downtown
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Another interesting shopping experience in La Paz is to visit the Witches Market. This isn't really a market but about 4 or 5 shops selling all sorts of weird and mystical things. We discovered it by accident when Mark helpfully pointed out a little shop near our Hostel that looked as though it had some nice soaps and candles. I looked at this little shop and was a bit surprised to see what looked like little dried frogs on a little table outside the shop. I then looked up and noticed a few furry baby llamas hanging up near the doorway. I said to Mark, "uumm I think there's dead baby llamas in that shop", Mark " No way, they're just toy animals", me "uuumm no they aren't, look!", Mark, "Ewwww!".

Pigeons in the Plaza de Armas
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So to our disgust, the shop was selling dead baby llamas and dried up llama fetuses! As well as other amulets and potions. We later learned that the locals buy these llamas to bury under their houses to bring them luck. The dried frogs bring wealth. I could do with some luck and wealth but I decided to steer away from that for the time being! Later on I bought a couple of ceramic Pachamama amulets which are supposed to bring good luck. Pachamama originates from Inca mythology and represents their goddess mother earth I think. The Incas in their time used to make sacrifices of Llamas (and occasionally young girls!) and give offerings of maize, coca leaves to Pachamama to bring good fortune.

While in La Paz we also found time to visit the Coca museum which was really interesting. It basically documents the use of Coca leaves from Inca times in which is was chewed and used for tea, to now in which it is used in Coke and cocaine. We learnt some new things, for example heaps of modern medicine uses derivatives of coca, e.g. haemaroid cream! Also Coke still uses coca leaves in its drink for flavour. Coca leaves are grown legally around the world in places such as US and industrial and medicinal purposes. Later on we sampled some Coca leaf cookies which were ok and bought some coca lollies which were absolutely disgusting!

We also caught up with Robin and Stef, our German friends from Bariloche / Buenos Aires for dinner at an Indian restaurant, the Star of India. The food was fantastic, but their "silly hot" beef vindaloo is SERIOUSLY HOT. Not just "gringo hot", this thing was crazy. Mark took the first mouth full and immediately ripped off 2 layers of clothing, downed his glass of wine and desperately grabbed mine. A poor German man alone at the table next to us watched, a little concerned, as the bowl of beef vindaloo that he had ordered rocked up a few minutes later. Poor guy was as red as a beetroot and sweating like a pig!