25 Jun, 2014 | Alex Walker

It was rumoured in May that David Beckham might emerge from his footballing retirement for Bolívar’s Copa Libertadores semi-final. With the club’s reigning oligarch Marcelo Claure later dismissing thi...

21 May, 2014 | Alex Walker

Underworlds in Bolivian Literature At the turn of the 20th century, writing in Bolivia almost exclusively tackled surface issues like campesino life and later the globalisation of the nation. ‘Pe...

21 May, 2014 | Alex Walker

Violence constitutes an inherent and quotidian part of club football worldwide. In South America, barras bravas – supporters’ groups cut from the same cloth as European Ultras – are the culprits held...

25 Jun, 2014 | Alex Walker

A politician who plays football, or a footballer who plays at politics? In 2010, a bitterly-fought charity match was played between two teams, one of them led by Bolivian President Evo Morales an...

25 Jul, 2014 | Alex Walker

The Neo-Andean Wave Sweeping El Alto Gaudy and garish, the mini- mansions of El Alto stand as striking symbols of Bolivia’s new Aymara bourgeoisie. It is a phenomenon that has exploded so quickly o...

23 May, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick Somers The Past, Present, and Future of a National ArchiveTwo months on and the noise has not yet died down. On March 21 this year, Juan Ríos, the newly appointed rector of Cochabamba’s st...

25 Jul, 2014 | Alex Walker

Mention K-Pop to a non-obsessive and their knowledge of the genre will most likely extend to Park Jae-sang’s Gangnam Style and, if you’re lucky, its sequel Gentlemen — think Alvin And The Chipmunks: T...

21 May, 2014 | Alex Walker

When Ukrainian model and Barbie doppelgänger Valeria Lukyanova proclaimed herself to be a reincarnation of the Tiwanakan god Wiracocha, little did she know that she was adding to Bolivia’s long, dark...

15 Apr, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick Somers The challenges of implementing Bolivia’s new coca lawClimbing high into Villa Fátima, I reach ADEPCOCA headquarters, whose insides remind me somewhat of a labyrinth-tardis hybrid. W...

28 Mar, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photos: William WroblewskiNew beginnings after the break-upThe adage, ‘It’s never too late to try new things’ is often one reserved for parkour pensioners or grandmothers getting to grips with what th...

28 Mar, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photos : William Wroblewski and Adriana MurilloAlternative facts in the aftermath of the referendumIt is clear from my initial drive down from El Alto airport that this is a turbulent time for politic...

15 Apr, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick SomersA lesson with the maestroAgustín Alonso has been busy tending to his nest. A short walk up from Plaza San Francisco, family-made instruments line his workshop like banks of exquisite...

16 Apr, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick SomersShining the spotlight on deaf children and Bolivia’s neglect of the disabled‘There is a mountain of work still for us to do,’ Valeria Salinas tells me. Her initiative, Proyecto Sines...

23 May, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick Somers Big questions, small answersNow, we all know that you can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs, and neither can you truly master investigative journalism without asking the...

23 May, 2017 | Alex Walker

Photo: Nick SomersOde to Pico de OroBolivia’s beer scene has never been quite so artsy nor quite so crafty. Microbreweries are springing up as often as posters calling for access to the sea, while the...