Bolivia, proud and intense

Bolivia is the highest, driest, coldest, warmest, and windiest country in South America. It is also considered the poorest and most underdeveloped country in the hemisphere, with no direct outlet to the sea except through the Paraguay river. At the same time, however, it is one of the richest in terms of natural resources such as natural gas and lithium. About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European), Blacks, and Whites are a minority.

"The city that touches the sky" is an adequate description for La Paz. It sits high above sea level on a valley surrounded by the high altiplano. Overlooking the city is the majestic triple-peaked Illimani, perpetually covered with snow.
The interior of the Church of San Francisco is of Neoclassical in style, featuring small cedar altars decorated with gold leaf designs.
Corner of Calle Jaén, La Paz.
In Bolivia, the cities of Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz celebrate Carnival during the eight days preceding Ash Wednesday. Locals wear heavy masks with horns and bulging eyes, fangs, long, sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls, golden spurs, and flowers.
The totora reeds are used for many things including the reed boats and sails in daily use on the lake. The rafts used in the voyages of Thor Heyerdahl, Ra I and Ra II, which crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the 1970s, were built on Suriqui Island using totora reeds..
The prehistoric city of Tiwanaku is located on the southern shore of the famous Lake Titicaca along the border between Bolivia and Peru. Even after its abandonment, Tiwanaku continued to be an important religious site for the local people. It later became incorporated into Inka mythology as the birthplace of mankind as the Inka built their own structures alongside the ruins. Tiwanaku remains an integral locale in the religious lives of Andean people in the turbulent present of modern Bolivia.
About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
Bolivia's Yungas Road is officially the "world's most dangerous road", christened so by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995. Local people call it "the road of death" and pray before using it, and the nearest hospital is a two-hour drive away. The danger of the road ironically though has made it a popular tourist destination: mountain biker enthusiasts, in particular, have made it a favorite destination for downhill biking.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.

About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
"Blue Jesus", in the Monastery of San Francisco, La Paz.
Cupula of the Cathedral of La Paz.
In Bolivia, the cities of Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz celebrate Carnival during the eight days preceding Ash Wednesday. Locals wear heavy masks with horns and bulging eyes, fangs, long, sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls, golden spurs, and flowers. This mystifying image depicts La Diablada, typical mask of the city of Oruro.
Reed boat manufacturing in the Titicaca region includes gathering and joining bundles of totora reeds and fastening them with rope. The reed bundles are connected with more rope to build the spine of the boat. Finally the row of bundles are pounded into a crescent shape. The raft's porous nature filters out water from the waves kicked up by the high winds of the Altiplano.
Mt. Illampu (20,867 feet) and Mt. Ancohuma (20,957 feet) are part of the same massif of peaks permanently covered in snow called the "Cordillera Real", and are favored destinations of technical climbers and extreme skiers as well as native peoples in their rituals of communion with nature spirits and the weather gods.
In the town of Copacabana, the Bolivian car blessing ceremonies happen every day outside the basilica off the main city square. Diesel trucks, four-door sedans and buses alike are decorated like Mardi Gras floats: garlands of paper, flowers, bright bows, and confetti.
The Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca is a delicate patchwork of steep fields and terraces of different hues of green, yellow and brown, criss-crossed by stone terraces and zigzagging walls tumbling down to sand beaches and the lake’s intense blueness.
Bolivia's Yungas Road is officially the "world's most dangerous road", christened so by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995. Local people call it "the road of death" and pray before using it, and the nearest hospital is a two-hour drive away. The danger of the road ironically though has made it a popular tourist destination: mountain biker enthusiasts, in particular, have made it a favorite destination for downhill biking.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.

About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
Bolivia's Health Minister Nila Heredia gives declarations outside of the presidential palace in La Paz about a new type of flu virus that will likely spread in Bolivia due to low temperatures.
The Witches' Market of La Paz sells herbs, folk remedies and a variety of fascinating ingredients used to manipulate the many spirits that populate the Aymara world. Common products include dried herbs, seeds, llama fetuses, and various parts of frogs and insects used in rituals.
In Bolivia, the cities of Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz celebrate Carnival during the eight days preceding Ash Wednesday. Locals wear heavy masks with horns and bulging eyes, fangs, long, sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls, golden spurs, and flowers.
To visitors to Lake Titicaca, a boat trip to the floating islands is a must. These islands are made and re-made from the totora reeds which provide home, sustenance and transportation for their residents. The islands are maintained by adding fresh reeds to the surface even as the ones on the bottom decompose.
About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
Copacabana is the main Bolivian town on the shore of Lake Titicaca and has about 6,000 inhabitants. From here, boats leave for Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna, the sacred Inca islands.
Mr. and Mrs. Macaw of the Bolivian Yungas
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.

About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
The "charango" is a diminutive high-pitched ten-string instrument played throughout the Andean region, the product of indigenous craftsmen inspired by the Spanish Guitar and the Vihuela. The face and neck look like a miniature toy guitar, and the soundbox consists of a carved wooden shell or the dried skin of lizards or armadillos. It is most often played by rapidly fanning or plucking the strings.
The Witches' Market of La Paz sells herbs, folk remedies and a variety of fascinating ingredients used to manipulate the many spirits that populate the Aymara world. Common products include dried herbs, seeds, llama fetuses, and various parts of frogs and insects used in rituals.
In Bolivia, the cities of Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz celebrate Carnival during the eight days preceding Ash Wednesday. Locals wear heavy masks with horns and bulging eyes, fangs, long, sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls, golden spurs, and flowers.
About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
Lake Titicaca is situated at an altitude of 12,506 feet and covers 3200 square miles. It is over 1000 feet deep and has more than thirty (mostly uninhabited) islands.
The Moon Island in Lake Titicaca was a Tiahuanaco civilization temple meant to be a moon observation center, tracking its cycles and movements during the months of the year. It is believed that these ruins of Inak Uyu (Palace or Temple of the Moon) were a "Ajlla Huasi", a sacred place where the virgins of the sun (nustas) were chosen.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.

The Iglesia de San Francisco in La Paz is notable for its intricately carved façade, richly decorated with indigenous symbols such as masked figures, snakes, dragons and tropical birds. It is one the finest examples of baroque-mestizo architecture in the Americas. Construction on the original San Francisco Church started in 1548. It collapsed under the weight of snow in 1610 and was reconstructed in 1784.
A "peña" is a discotheque-bar, of sorts, where locals and visitors can get a glimpse of Bolivia's folk dances and taste traditional dishes.
In Bolivia, the cities of Oruro, Santa Cruz, Tarija and La Paz celebrate Carnival during the eight days preceding Ash Wednesday. It takes place for the eight days preceeding Ash Wednesday. Locals wear heavy masks with horns and bulging eyes, fangs, long, sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls, golden spurs, and flowers.
The city of Copacabana is famous for the miracles of the patron saint of Bolivia, the Dark Virgin of the Lake. The miracles began in the 16th century after the village became home to an image of the Virgen de Candelaria. Another image of the Virgin was taken to Brazil in the 1800's and established in what is now a very well known beach of the same name.
The prehistoric city of Tiwanaku is located on the southern shore of the famous Lake Titicaca along the border between Bolivia and Peru. Even after its abandonment, Tiwanaku continued to be an important religious site for the local people. It later became incorporated into Inka mythology as the birthplace of mankind as the Inka built their own structures alongside the ruins. Tiwanaku remains an integral locale in the religious lives of Andean people in the turbulent present of modern Bolivia.
About 60% of the population of Bolivia is of indigenous heritage, including the Quechua, Aymara, Guaraní, and Chiquitano. Mestizos (a mix of Amerindian and European) and Whites are a minority
Every year in the month of July, residents of the 20 provinces of La Paz, Bolivia wear their traditional attires and perform typical dances along the city’s main avenues during the Annual Native Music and Dance Festival. The festival is part of the Fiestas Julias celebrations, a month’s worth of cultural, social, and civic events to remember and commemorate Bolivia’s independence from Spain.