Cementerio General & El Alto

Before I visited El Alto I took a detour to the biggest cemetery I ever seen. Here the culture is a bit different than back home and on the cemetery you celebrate and if you are sad or low there are shops available with both food and alcohol to make you happy. Every year there is a contest and the winner is allowed to do a mural on a wall, unfortunately I cant really capture the glow in these murals with my camera.

El Alto is a totally separate city with their own mayor for example but has grown so much that its actually bigger than La Paz now and the both cities are built into each other. Even if the city is big it still lack a lot of common infrastructure. For example, they are right now building the first shopping mall and it was just recently that they got their first cinema. They also have a very unique architecture and if they have money they love to build their houses to celebrate their idols, like Iron man.

You can also feel that there is a complete different feeling in this city, the street markets popup wherever and the “witches market” here is much bigger, more authentic and you can even find the witches here who will help you create a love potion or if you need to bless your house. However if you gonna bless your house it will be expensive and at least one whole, white lama will be sacrificed.

The easiest way to move between the cities are using the Teleferica (cable cars). For only 3 Bolivians you will silently swish through the air, over the cities with a beautiful view and with free WiFi. The other option is to use colectivos, a form of small minibus network which will be cheaper, only 2 Bolivians but it will take forever, the car honks, you got smog and you will get stuck in the traffic.

Even if I would love to see more of Bolivia I’m running out of days and there its now time to board the plane and head to Argentina.