MERCADO DE LAS BRUJAS

The famous Witches' Market is located in one of La Paz's oldest indigenous quarters. It sells a bit of everything: medicinal plants, talismans, amulets, healing creams, coca alcohol, llama fetuses and other goodies. Enthusiasts can discuss their good fortune and prospects for the end of the world with the local shamans (known here as kallawayas, amautas, chifleras and yatiris). Of course, the more traditional tourist can also find handicrafts, textiles and jewelry. Around 70% of shoppers are La Paz residents and yatiris who buy wholesale, while the remaining 30% are foreign visitors. In August, during the month when Pachamama is celebrated, you can watch the endless queues of Paceños waiting their turn to chat with a sorcerer and purchase a Q'uwa Misa, a ritual offering.

History. In the 1960s, Bolivians were forbidden to practice traditional medicine. The kallawayas (an ethnic group from the north of La Paz, considered to be the masters of traditional medicine), the amautas (Tiwanaku philosophers and astrologers, who read the future in coca leaves), the chifleras (women of Aymara origin dedicated to selling natural remedies) and the yatiris (shamans who prepare offerings and ceremonies for the Pachamama) then converted to merchants. Can you guess where they set up shop? These new vendors set up shop in the vicinity of the San Francisco church. Then, in 2009, the Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia finally recognized the rights of indigenous peoples to cultural, linguistic, political, territorial and religious self-determination. Under the protection of this recognition, Law 459 on Bolivian ancestral traditional medicine was consequently enacted in 2013. This law guarantees the free and legal exercise of indigenous therapeutic practices, incorporating them into the national health system. From then on, "witch doctors" were able to promote their divinatory virtues throughout the country.

Origin of the name. The name originated from a tourism marketing strategy in the 1960s, aimed at creating an exotic image of women selling amulets, medicinal herbs and witchcraft products. It is said that Darius Morgan Ora-Mayo, founder of Bolivia's first tourist agency in 1958, gave it this name.