Well I am now in La Paz, in the middle of the witches market. "The what!!??", you ask. The Witches Market of course. As one of the major attractions in La Paz, this creepy market has proven to be quite interesting. While I am not actually sure who the witches are or where the history comes from, the witches market is full of booth selling items you can easily imagine any witch finding useful. There are your crazy teas to remedy ailments, heartache, and funky growths. There are goodluck pendants and preassembled offereings for money, work, love, and luck. Statues of pachamama (mother earth) and other ancient gods abound . Finally, and most questionable, are the dried llama fetuses, what they are used for I am unsure. But luckily, I got to take some pictures.
Besides the Witches Market, the Coca Museum gives another view into ancient Andean healing methods. Coca leaves, the major crop of the region, have been used in this area for over 4500 years. To this day, many people still chew the leaves a few times a day because they give energy and relieve pain (not to mention make your mouth go numb). While Europeans were still knocking their patients unconsciouness to prefrom painful porcedures, the Andeans people had learned to use the coca leaves to kill the pain, so much so that they could preform head surguries. When the Spainiards first arrived, the church tried to ban it because it was seen as an impediment to the spread of Christianity. However, when they realized that chewing the coca leaves allowed for the indeginous people to be worked longer and harder in the mines, it was not only encourage but made mandatory and at times was more valuable then gold.
Coca then became more popular after Sigmund Freud first used it as cocaine eventually leading to the modern day war on drugs, causing further impoverment of many Bolivia farmers. Pharmaceuticals also began to research it´s uses in many medicines. During prohibition of alochol in the US, the invention of Coca cola, using said coca leaves, allowed for similar effects to that of alochol. We still drink coke for the caffeine but coca is no longer used. All in all, the coca museum is defintely worth a stop if you are in La Paz.
The city is basically like a sprinkling of buildings in a huge bowl, formed by the surrounding mountains. As the proclaimed highest capital in the world, it sits at over 3,600 meters, which i think is something like 12,000 feet. The streets are all on a impressive slope and became veritable waterfalls this afternoon in the rain. It´s quite cold, especially at night, and I am becoming a big fan of the indigenous tradition of just wrapping up in a blanket.
Anyways, our French friends should catch up with us tomorrow, and hopefully by wednesday we will be on our way to lake Titicaca. Until then, I am walking slow, eating lite, and sleeping alot, which is what they recommend for the alititude. Oh and drinking coca tea, another useful property it has.
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