Culture

Pico Austria - A taste of the Cordillera Real

26 Jan, 2024 | Zofia Todd

For those looking to dip their toe in chilly high-altitude waters, this challenging trek provides spectacular views of the Cordillera Real. Following a two-hour drive from La Paz, it is a three-hour c...

Welcome to Peñas: How one Bolivian town is ready to become a sustainable adventure tourism destination

26 Jan, 2024 | Zofia Todd

A large arch over the road on the way to town announces, ‘Bienvenidos a Peñas’. It feels out of place in this nearly empty part of the Altiplano. To the left is a sprawl of rock formations, looking re...

Strength and Resilience: An Interview with Liita Gonzales, Cholita Escaladora

26 Jan, 2024 | Zofia Todd

Liita Gonzales grew up in El Alto, splitting time between the bustling city and the agricultural community of Cañaviri, an hour and a half away, nestled in the valley between the mountains of Condorir...

Carnival: a word with endless meanings

08 Aug, 2023 | Olivia Millard

Home to 36 Indigenous cultures and their respective languages, the bridging of worlds is at the heart of Bolivian national identity. Cross-cultural relations have been a topic of national interest for...

THE CHURCH OF AYAHUASCA / LA IGLESIA DEL AYAHUASCA

30 Jun, 2021 | Valeria Wilde

Illustration: Marco TóxicoENGLISH VERSIONFor Andean and Amazonian indigenous cultures in Bolivia, hallucinogenic plants are synonymous  to medicine, spirituality and even religion. Ever since anc...

PALO SANTO

30 Jun, 2021 | Sophie Hogan

ENGLISH VERSIONThe miracle tree and its usesThe smell seeps easily into my nostrils as we light the wood and put it in the holder. The smoke begins to flurry out of the holes in the cup and the fragra...

‘Apacheta Nº8’

30 Jun, 2021 | Curated by: Marisabel Villagomez

ENGLISH VERSION by Max Siñani: Making the invisible visibleConnections are rarely established anymore. They are scarce, like those mysteries in which the invisible emerges from other dimensions. They...

OLD MARKET, NEW MEDICINE / VIEJO MERCADO, NUEVA MEDICINA

30 Jun, 2021 | Toby Clyde

ENGLISH VERSION The name, El Mercado de las Brujas or the Witches Market, does little to accurately describe the bustling medicine and ritual trade just off Plaza San Francisco. In reality, the m...

DARK GODS, DARK RITES / DIOS OSCURO, RITOS OSCUROS

30 Jun, 2021 | Alex Walker

Photo: Iván RodríguezSubtitle: 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...

IN THE ARMS OF THE MOON GODDESS / EN LOS BRAZOS DE LA DIOSA DE LA LUNA

30 Jun, 2021 | Nikolaus Hochstein Cox

ENGLISH VERSIONThe elderly Aymaran woman runs about the circle with almost supernatural vigour, touching each of our bowed heads with the wrapped sacrifice. She whispers a breathless incantation, and...

REHEARSING WITH THE KORY WARMIS / ENSAYANDO CON LAS KORY WARMIS

30 Apr, 2021 | Marianthi Baklava

ENGLISH VERSIONWomen meet to create theatrical art – and to empower themselves‘Get ready, you’re going to be backed against that wall once everyone gets here,’ Erika Andia warns me. Upon arriving at C...

BOLIVIA’S POWERFUL CHOLITAS / LAS PODEROSAS CHOLITAS BOLIVIANAS

30 Apr, 2021 | Catalina Ugalde

Photos: Catalina UgaldeENGLISH VERSIONCholitas are indigenous Quechua-Aymara women who are identifiable because of the traditional Bolivian pollera skirts they wear. These women are the face of resili...

THE CATACOMBS OF POTOSÍ / LAS CATACUMBAS DE POTOSÍ

30 Apr, 2021 | Catriona Fraser

Photos: Catriona Fraser and Nick FerrisENGLISH VERSIONA look at the past to serve the futureIt is the 1990s, and the roof of San Agustín church groans a final breath of life before surrendering to the...

Decolonising Music / La descolonización de la música

29 Nov, 2020 | Juan Andrés Palacios

Image: Yasser Kim KerriganTranslation: Daniel SilesENGLISH VERSIONOn the first Spanish translation of Rameau’s ‘Treatise on Harmony’, on the context of the text’s publication in Spanish speaking count...

The Bolivianita Gemstone / Bolivianita

29 Aug, 2020 | Sofía Diez De Medina

Photos: Robert Weldon / GIA, cortesía de Minerales y Metales del Oriente, Bolivia, SA. ( https://www.gia.edu/ametrine-description)ENGLISH VERSION“All Bolivians should admire this marvellous gemst...