Bolivia: Culture, Traditions, and Geography

We spent the past month in El Alto, Bolivia. El Alto is the second-largest city in Bolivia. La Paz, the government capital of Bolivia, is situated in a canyon surrounded entirely by mountains. El Alto is on the canyon rim, overlooking La Paz. El Alto literally means “the heights”, and has an elevation of 13,650 ft. The first week in Bolivia was rough. I was skeptical of the severity of altitude sickness, but it is no joke. It made me nauseous, gave me a splitting headache, and made me feel out of breath just walking down the hallway. The nausea and the headache went away as my body adjusted, but I felt out of breath after very limited activity for the entire month. We had to boil water for 20 minutes before we could drink it or use it for cooking. All fresh fruit and vegetables had to be soaked in chlorine before eating. Even with these precautions, most of us experienced some sort of sickness from food throughout the month. It is also very cold in El Alto, even now when it is technically their “summer”. It was in the 50s during the day and got down into the 30s at night. Our apartment did not have central heat, so it was usually colder inside than outside. We wore lots of layers and had heavy quilts that our host provided for us.

The view from El Alto overlooking La Paz. The mountains were so beautiful.

We experienced a good glimpse of Bolivian culture. El Alto has the largest concentration of native, indigenous people in the world. It is very poor, and people are selling stuff on the street everywhere you turn. Traditional Bolivian women wear colorful skirts and top hats – the taller the hat, the higher their economic status. They carry their wares on their backs with colorful blankets to take to market to sell. There are unfinished buildings everywhere – in Bolivia and other third-world countries, people use the money they have to build, and when they run out of money, they pause construction until they get more money. The area surrounding our ministry has a culture of witchcraft – vendors sell llama fetuses that people bury under new construction for good fortune. Lynching is still accepted as a form of punishment; there are “lynched” dummies hanging all around the neighborhood with signs warning against theft and violence.

RJ at a market in El Alto. You can literally buy anything at the market, from car parts to appliances.

Llama fetuses hang from many storefronts. It is creepy.

“Lynched” dummies hang from almost every corner in El Alto, warning people against crime. The police in Bolivia are corrupt, so citizens take matters into their own hands.

Bolivia is a very beautiful country, and has a variety of landscapes. We did a few adventure days and got to experience this beauty firsthand. 

One of my favorite things about being in El Alto was that we had to take a cable car down the mountain into La Paz. This is a form of public transportation, and each ride only cost 3 Bolivianos (50 cents). This ride provided a beautiful view of La Paz, and made me feel like I was on an amusement park ride. 

Waiting to load the cable car.

One Sunday, our host took us to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). We drove about 15 minutes outside of La Paz, and felt like we were in a different universe. There were rock formations that made you feel like you were actually on the moon. Several movies, including some of the Star Wars franchise, have been filmed there. It was beautiful!

The Valley of the Moon.

We also ventured to the Bolivian salt flats, which is the one thing I really wanted to do in Bolivia. For miles and miles, in every direction, it is just flat land covered in salt. It is surreal. On the edge of the salt flats, there is an abandoned train yard. These trains used to carry salt and other minerals to port cities on the Pacific Ocean, but after Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the late 1800’s, these trains had nowhere to go. They were left to rot in the desert. It provides a beautiful picture background.

Our team posing on the abandoned train.

All you could see for miles was flat ground!

I really enjoyed my time Bolivia and South America, but I am so excited to travel to Asia this week and experience a new culture and a new continent. Prayers for our whole squad as we embark tomorrow on 4 days of plane travel to Cambodia.