The story
Alasita La Paz in La Paz
Alasita fills central La Paz with stalls of miniature houses, cars, diplomas and toy money built around Ekeko, the Aymara figure of abundance, on and around January 24 each year. Shoppers buy tiny versions of what they want most, often having them blessed in a ch'alla, in a ritual recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Crowds are large and the mood is festive but purposeful.
Alasita turns downtown La Paz into a market of tiny wishes every year around January 24, when stalls fill with miniature houses, cars, diplomas, bundles of make-believe banknotes and sacks of pretend flour, all built to be bought, blessed and, believers hope, eventually made real.