Bolivian city of El Alto: a bright word in architecture (23 photos)

Photographer and traveler Yuri Segalerba took wonderful photographs of the Bolivian city of El Alto, which is located 4000 m above sea level. But the geographical location is not the only thing that this city can surprise. It amazes, first of all, with its unusual and colorful mansions in the Nuevo Andino style, created by the self-taught architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre.

Multi-storey buildings with geometrically regular facades in loud colors and large windows are called cholets - from the French chalet ("chalet", large house) and the local, contentedly dismissive word cholo, denoting the Aymara Indians.

In recent years, a large segment of the population has appeared in El Alto, consisting of wealthy Aymara Indians, and it is they who order bright cholets for themselves from a local architect. This is the new middle class of El Alto, and the new extravagant style of Nuevo Andino is a reflection of the changes that are taking place, adding vibrancy and color to the city.

Choletas have a clearly defined structure: on the ground floor there are usually small shops and benches, on the second there is a large party hall, on the third there is housing for rent (so that the owners can “recoup” the cost of the building), and on the top, in fact, there are the owners’ apartments .

These interesting and colorful buildings have become a symbol of the economic prosperity of El Alto and Bolivia as a whole.

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