Alasitas takes place on 24 January around Plaza San Francisco and spreads across much of the city centre. The market that accompanies it is extraordinary: hundreds of stalls selling miniature versions of everything a person might want to acquire — houses and apartments, cars and trucks, diplomas and university degrees, passports and visas, dollar bills and bolivianos, food and livestock and sewing machines. The objects are beautifully made at a range of price points. You buy what you want to receive, have it blessed by a yatiri or a Catholic priest (both are available; many people use both), and keep it through the year in the belief that the blessing will manifest the real thing.
The ekeko is the presiding deity of the festival — a small, pot-bellied figure draped in miniature goods, perpetually smiling, his arms outstretched. He is sold everywhere around Alasitas and is a central image of Bolivian folk religion, predating the Inca and surviving everything since. The festival is not primarily for tourists, which makes it better than it would otherwise be — La Paz residents take it seriously, queue to have objects blessed by particular yatiris with good reputations, and treat the whole event as a combination of spiritual practice and civic tradition. Even if you are sceptical about the mechanism, the festival is one of the best days to be in La Paz.