Lomé Voodoo Market

BOLIVIA

LA PAZ WITCH MARKET

Located on Calle Jiminez and Linares between Sagarnaga and Santa Cruzin, it’s impossible to miss the Witches’ Market of La Paz, Bolivia, which is found right in a lively tourist area. Dozens of vendors line the streets to sell a number of strange and fascinating products and the raw ingredients used in rituals to call on the spirits that populate the Aymara world.

Among the many items sold at the market are dried llama fetuses that are said to bring both prosperity and good luck, dried frogs used for Aymara rituals, soapstone figurines, aphrodisiac formulas, owl feathers, dried turtles and snakes, herbs, and folk remedies. Witch doctors in dark hats and dresses wander through the market offering fortune-telling services.

There are plenty of interesting sites to see in La Paz but if you are looking for a true Bolivia travel experience, you have to stop by the Witch Market. Located near the Iglesia de San Francisco, the La Paz Witch Market is a lot smaller than most people expect. Running down a few narrow streets, the market has been mostly taken over by tourist shops selling alpaca blankets and warm Andes sweaters. It’s a great place to pick up a few souvenirs for your family back home but this is not what you’re here to see.

Squished into a few remaining shops, the witches of La Paz have brought traditional native ceremonies and customs to the urban masses. In small town Bolivia, witches are often a normal part of every day life. They are right around the corner offering their cures and spells the sick and elderly, childless couples, love struck teens, or anyone else who needing there help. In modern La Paz though, the city folk need their spells and potions packaged for their hectic, urban lifestyles. Rather than seeking out a village witch, the residents of La Paz need only head over to the witch market to buy their cures packaged up in bright colored, easy to grab and go, boxes.

The witches of La Paz are not there as a tourist attraction, even though a majority of their customers are now tourists. They still serve out their spells, cures, and even read fortunes for Bolivian customers. Travelers visiting the market are welcome to ask questions, pick up a herbal cure or two, but in general you get the feeling that they save the really good stuff for the “real” customers. In fact, many fortune tellers in the Witch Market will flat out refuse to read the fortunes of foreigners.

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LA PAZ

BOLIVIA

Weird, crazy, and unexpected things are bound to happen if you travel enough.

One things leads to another and all of a sudden you’re sitting at an ancient Inca sacrifice table making offerings to Pachamama. Oh, That hasn’t happened to you? Well, head to the La Paz witch market and it might!