The Witches' Market

The Witches' Market, also known as El Mercado de las Brujas and La Hechiceria, is a popular tourist attraction located in Cerro Cumbre, a mountain clearing in La Paz, Bolivia.^[1] It is located in the street of Linares, El Rosario neighborhood, but also extends to the streets of Jiménez, Santa Cruz and Illampu.^[2][3] The market was named as a way to be recognizable for foreigners, due the high amount of visitors. In 2019, the market was named Intangible Cultural Heritage from La Paz.^[2]

Most part of the products are sold by Aymara women, known as chifreras.^[3][4] The market is run by local witch doctors known as yatiri, who sell potions, dried frogs, medicinal plants like retama, and armadillos used in Bolivian rituals.^[5] They also work with fortune-telling, love magic and curses.^[6] The yatiri can be easily identified by their black hats and coca pouches containing amulets, talismans and powders that promise luck, beauty and fertility.^[7] Most famous of all the items sold in The Witches' Market are the dried llama fetuses, called "sullus".^[8] These llama fetuses are buried under the foundations of many Bolivian houses as a sacred offering to the goddess Pachamama.^[9] Pachamama rituals usually occur in October, the most busy month in the Witches Market.^[2] According to the locals, around 60% of sales happens in this month. Another month that is important to the market is February, during the Carnival.^[3] Most of the rituals have been adapted to an urban background due to colonialism in Bolivia.^[3]