SHOESHINERS IN EL ALTO

Walking along the streets in El Alto, one finds a lot of people doing different activities. For example, there a lot of young people working as shoeshiners. They are generally on the main streets of Ceja which is the central part of El Alto. Ceja is the place where people changes buses, to go to La Paz city , so it is the perfect place to offer a shoeshining service.

Shoeshiners are divided in groups, each one has twenty of thirthy members. These are formed generally by young men although there are adults too. I asked one of them about girls or women and he told me that they don´t accept women as part of their organization and probably it is the same in the other groups too. It is mainly a male activitiy although in La Paz, there are some women working in this activity.

WATCHING FILMS ON EL ALTO STREETS

I am between Street 2 and Kilometer 7 Avenue in El Alto. All this area is also known as Ceja and here we can find a lot of things. Small businesses of any kind, orange juice sellers, fruit sellers, bread sellers, food sellers, etc.

Among these, there is this small shop that sells Cd´s, Dvd´s. All this material is known as "pirata", because they are non authorized copies of the original, and due to that they are sold at low prices. To increase its sales, owners of this type of business, install a Tv and show films or material that may be attractive as in this case. If it is very interesting, a crowd of people use to stand from the beginning until the end of the film.

A TRADITIONAL SOUP

"Lunch time and I don´t have time to go back home. So, what do I do?", I asked myself.

There are a lot of small restaurants in El Alto with different menus at different prices and I decided to find some hot soup. I said, “I will look for Chairo Paceño”. And What is Chairo Paceño? Chairo is a traditional soup in La Paz. It is based on charque, charque is dried lama meat which gives a special taste to this soup. Lately, a lot of charque is exported abroad because lama meat has a low level of cholesterol.

Other important part of this soup is chuño. Chuño is potatoe to which water has been taken out through a freezing process done in winter time here in June. The preparation includes fresh potatoe and vegetables which will have to be cooked for about 45 minutes or more.

After walking for a while I finally found the right place for my lunch. This time, I paid 3 bolivianos for this soup, but it can be 5 or more depending on the restaurant.

BUYING FRUIT

Today I was walking on the Ceja. Ceja is the center of El Alto. It is always crowded and one can find nearly everything to buy on the streets. Today we fortunately had a sunny and beautiful day, appropriate to buy some fresh fruit. So, I decided to buy some peaches and grapes.

“How much is a pound of grapes?”, I asked to the seller.

“3 bolivianos”, she answered.
“Then, I will take 2 pounds”, I said.

She took the balance and measured 2 pounds, and she gave me yapa too. Yapa is a native word that means an additional amount. For example, if you buy a certain amount of fruit or vegetables, the seller gives you a bit more of the product free.

“And how much does the peaches cost?”, I asked.
“25 peaches, 7 bolivianos”, she said.
“Then, I will take 25”, I said.
She counted 25 and gave 3 more peaches as yapa.

It is better to buy by 25, 50 o 100 in some products because the cost is lower than buying by smaller quantities. In the case of other products we buy by pounds.

A FRIENDLY ZEBRA

Walking down the mains streets in La Paz, one finds young boys and girls who are known as zebras. Dressed in the white and black suit they call the attention of people sometimes with funny movements. They are in La Paz for about four years ago and it is the only place within Bolivia where one can find these zebras. They have this name because they have a zebra appearance. Some years ago the La Paz Major created this group of people that could help to organize the chaotic traffic in La Paz. They are on the streets for about eight hours a day from Monday to Friday. Some people finds them funny, others think they are helpful but the truth is that they have become part of daily life in La Paz.