Bolivia is one of the most multinational countries of the world which makes it also a mixture of various cultures and traditions. With the modern trends and its strong roots, Bolivia has to offer a lot of unique things to its visitors. Apart from the beautiful products Bolivians are manufacturing which are making thousands of tourists to purchase souvenirs here, there is also a variety of absolutely strange goods you can easily find in this country.
Parts for filling the holes in hearts
This might sound as some sorcery which is actually not rare in Bolivia, however, the parts used for filling the holes in the hearts are absolutely of a conventional medical use. Of course, there are many countries producing biomedical materials which are used for treating various serious conditions inside the bodies, yet, the parts for hearts manufactured in Bolivia have its particular significance.
Actually, there is a group of Aymara indigenous women who are known as especially skilful of knitting and sewing around the world who have been trained to work with specific biomedical materials producing hand-made parts fitted exactly to a particular heart of a particular child with a serious heart condition. This unique project turned out to be very successful and the Bolivian women have already saved many lives inside the country, while the technology is waiting for approval in other countries now.
Evopolio
Everyone knows the Monopoly game loved by thousands of people around the world. A curious fact is that Monopoly looks in a quite a different way in Bolivia. Here, a different version of the game is popular known as Evopolio.
Evopolio is dedicated to a specific type of business where the players become narco traffickers. Some of the things they can do in order to progress is corrupting officials with bribes or, for example, preventing the movement around the country by covering the roadblock boards. As you can imagine, the game is completely inspired by the reality of the Bolivian society.
A demise of your very own self
This is truly unusual purchase one can make while visiting Bolivia, however, it is quite popular among people with a strong addiction to alcohol.
Even though these places are regarded to be alternatives to rehabilitation centres in Bolivia, so-called Elephant Cemeteries are cemeteries indeed. Officially, these strange places are hotels in which a person can purchase a bucket as well as large amount of alcohol which is sufficient for killing oneself. Sadly, such places are popular among homeless alcoholics who cannot count on any help.
Lizard ointments
You might have already heard about a strong tradition of witchery and non-conventional medicine in Bolivia. Needless to say, there is a variety of absolutely strange products one can purchase here. When it comes to the obscure medical products used in this country, you should check the lizard ointment.
Although it might seem like a lizard ointment is a substance made of some liquids produced by lizards whatever they can be just like the traditional medicines made of venoms of various creatures, it is not exactly what you think. A lizard ointment is just an ointment made of lizards. Poor animals are crushed and mixed in the way they are creating a paste. Such a paste can then be used for treating various problems with bones, specifically, fractured bones or even broken ones.
A real human skull
Looks like in Bolivia there is nothing impossible. The market has a lot to offer to customers indeed. Here, you can even purchase a nice human skull if it happens you need one.
Certainly, you are wondering now what can even be a purpose of purchasing a skull. Actually, one of the most important celebrations in the country which is a Bolivian version of the Day of the Dead has a specific tradition popular among the indigenous groups of people of La Paz. They believe that decorating skulls of their ancestors have a special spiritual meaning giving the living people protection. Still, some people do not own such skulls so they have reach out for the skulls of other people who are not necessarily their relatives. The easiest way to do it is using the services of grave robbers who can fetch a skull for a celebration for a particular price.