There are, to be sure, the usual earmarks of a Latin-American capital: well-stocked warehouses owned by English, German, and American firms; native politicians, unmistakable, in frock coats and silk hats, who spend their time chatting around the benches of the principal plaza near the Government House; a telephone company with four hundred subscribers; fine residences on a shady alameda, owned and occupied by people of European descent; etc., etc. Nevertheless the general impression that one gets of La Paz is that it is an Indian city, quite distinct from any city seen anywhere else. Its Indians are not like the Quichuas of Cuzco and Potosí, or the Chibchas of Bogotá. They are Aymarás.
It is said that La Paz, with a population of sixty thousand people, has thirty thousand Aymarás who neither speak nor understand a word of Spanish. Judging by my experiences in the streets and in the market-place, the proportion of people who do not understand Spanish is considerably larger. I found very few, even of those who were most anxious to sell their goods, who could so much as count in Spanish.
The result of having such a large part of the population untouched by Spanish language or custom is to make the streets much more picturesque. The brilliant colors completely threw into the shade my impression of Potosí. Never have I seen such gay ponchos and such kaleidoscopic effects as in the La Paz market-place and the streets and squares near it.
The reason is not far to seek. In no other city of the Andes are the aborigines so powerful as here. La Paz owes its political supremacy, and its present possession of the President and Congress, to the fighting qualities of the Aymarás. They are a barbarous folk whose cupidity, low cunning, and savage cruelty is quite unlike their mild cousins the Quichuas. Pampered and befriended by the Government, made to feel their power and importance, they stalk unabashed through the streets of the city and take pleasure in carrying their savage tastes to an extreme. The natural result is to give the city an
atmosphere of barbaric glitter which is lacking elsewhere. In cities like Bogotá, Cuzco, and Potosí, although the Indians far outnumber the whites, the latter are so absolutely dominant, and the Indians so peaceable and humble, that there is an opportunity for ridicule to mitigate against the more picturesque features of Indian costume. But in La Paz few of the Spanish-speaking boys would dare to jeer at a stalwart Aymará carrier, no matter what garb he chose to wear.
In fact, the Aymará attitude is a striking example of the truth of Mr. Bryce’s dictum that “serfs, when they have attained a measure of independence, resent the inferiority, be it legal or social, to which they find themselves condemned. Discontent appears and social friction is intensified, not only because occasions for it grow more frequent, but because the temper of each race is more angry and suspicious.” We had noticed their insolent demeanor when we first met them in the village of Ocurí on the road from Sucre to Challapata. Poor Mr. Bandelier had many unpleasant experiences with them.