Often the fastest way to tell where a woman is from is to look at her hat. There are about as many different hat styles in
Bolivia as there are Indian people. In La Paz the black bowler hats are favored by women and they commonly wear their
hair in pigtails. Often an apron is worn over a bright skirt with many underskirts, which help to keep them warm. They frequently
wrap a beautiful, fringed, Spanish shawl around their shoulders and almost always carry a pack or baby on their backs.
Brightly coloured threads are weaved into cloth, made into clothing like ponchos and a variety of
other accessories. The colourful wares are laid out in stalls or sold in tiny cubbyhole shops, lending
a bright, festive and uplifting energy to the local streets.
A Bolivian little bundle of love
We are on our way to Inca Pallay, an indigenous weaving museum and store where we hope
to purchase a traditional hand made weaving, like the one below, from the Jalq'a region.
The weaved art forms often feature geometric or zoomorphic designs.
Iglesia de San Francisco, 1549, La Paz
is considered to be one of the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in South America.
The carved facade is full of indigenous symbols - from ghoulish masks to snakes, dragons and tropical birds -
a combination of Spanish and Indian motifs created by the local artisans.
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