Urban Cemetery
28 May, 2015 | Phoebe Roth
PHOTO: MICHAEL DUNN CACERES
Walking through the general cemetery of La Paz, I was astounded at how strange and different it looked to anywhere I had seen before, with various blocks of what looked like greenhouses, each with row upon row of glass-fronted cabinet doors. The family of the deceased pay for a cabinet where the body is buried, and prices vary depending on whereabouts, and how high up, in the cemetery they are placed.
There are also people employed by the families to pray for their deceased relatives buried there. Recently, one of these employees, Ricardo Quispe, was struck by lightning after having taken shelter under a tree during a vicious electrical storm. The 66-year-old was left with burns over 90 percent of his body but, somehow, he’s still alive.
