This May, more than a thousand eight hundred artisans and vendors will be participating in the Alasitas Fair, an Aymara tradition dedicated to the fulfillment of dreams and practiced in the buying and selling of miniatures. Common items include homes, vehicles, money, construction materials, grocery stores, diplomas and licenses, travel documents and more.
Many of these miniatures are destined to be bestowed on statues of the Aymara deity of abundance and prosperity, Ekkekko (dwarf). These represent the wishes of each person, which they hope the Ekkekko will grant them in the coming year. Once families have received an Ekkekko statue (you’re supposed to receive them, or give them as gifts, but not buy one for yourself), they’re responsible for giving him cigarettes and speaking to him to ensure his good graces. You’ll see Ekkekkos throughout the fair, dressed in traditional ponchos, with characteristically open mouths so that you can offer him pleasing cigarettes, and with open arms that you can fill them with miniature goods. In order to help the items bring you luck, it is customary for vendors to bless your purchase, performing a ritualistic ceremony for you in which he or she blows a charcoal and incense smoke over them, sprays them with alcohol, sprinkles confetti, and them wraps them in long thin ribbons while chanting.
With its high altitude, La Paz is a certainly a shock, but it isn’t only the altitude which will leave you breathless. Most people first see the city from its suburb El Alto, which sits at the rim of the valley in which the city sits, offering expansive views overlooking La Paz. The modern and colonial buildings of the city center and the colorful shantytowns climbing up the canyon slopes are hemmed in by magnificent snow-covered peaks. While you can visit various lookouts, especially the well-known Killi Killi Lookout, a cable car ride down into the city is enough to enjoy stunning views. 
