The Witches’ Market of La Paz, Bolivia

Along a narrow cobblestone street in an old quarter of La Paz , in Boliva, old women dressed in traditional Andean garb of colorful ankle-length dresses and bowler hats sit with their wares spread out in front of them. This is the famous Mercado de las Brujas, or the Witches' Market. It has everything a witch could desire—amulets, talisman, herbs, good luck charms, dried armadillos and frogs, ceramic figures of naked couples, aphrodisiac formulas, owl feathers, dried turtles, starfish, snakes and the Bolivian favorite, dried llama fetuses. Many of these items are used in religious rituals honoring the spirits of the Aymara religion. Others are used to bring health, love, intelligence, happiness, wealth and longevity into peoples’ lives. One of the best-selling items is boxed herbs from Brazil and Peru that purportedly improves sex life. Photo credit: Daniel Chong Kah Fui/Flickr Although a vast majority of Bolivians are Catholic, few actually practice Christianism. Instead, locals follow ancient tradition and visit fortune tellers and witch doctors called yatiri. These practitioners of the occult can easily be recognized in the crowd by their black hats and coco pouches containing amulets, talismans and powders that ensure luck, beauty and fertility. For the right price, these voodoo doctors will cast a spell on your enemies or grant a child good marks in school. Some witch doctors even sell packaged, pre-made spells and potions to treat various problems. One of the most peculiar items on the market are the dried llama fetuses. According to traditional belief, families must make an offering to goddess Pachamama by burying a llama fetus under the foundations of their new homes for protection, health, happiness and good luck. Sometimes llama fetuses are burned to bring the good will of the goddess. It is said that nearly every Bolivian family have a dried llama fetus thrown under the foundations of their house for luck.