The blocks around Calle Uyustus, uphill from the Basilica of San Francisco, form La Paz's densest commercial district — a tangle of stalls, wholesale shops, and street vendors selling everything from mobile phones to cooking oil in bulk. This is where La Paz residents buy practical goods, not tourists. The market extends up several steep streets and into covered arcade buildings, each with its own speciality.
It's an overwhelming place at first — the density, the noise, the steep gradients. But the market is also completely benign and perfectly safe in the middle of the day. Walk slowly, watch your bag in the most crowded passages, and don't block the flow. The best things to buy here are practical goods at local prices — hardware, textiles, dried goods — rather than souvenirs.