In the highland town of El Alto, Bolivia, the row of colorful corrugated iron roofs momentarily distracts from the terrifying sight below: a steep drop of several centimeters from the houses, known locally as ‘suicide houses’ because of the high risk posed to residents.
The thin line of thin structures hangs from the edge of a cliff formed from earth with a steep drop of hundreds of meters to the rocky slope below.
Experts and city officials say the cliff is eroding, making the homes even more dangerous — hence their nickname.
The precarious homes often serve as workplaces for Aymara shamans, known as yatiris, where they make offerings to the Pachamama, or Earth Mother.
But heavy rains and global warming are increasingly undermining the foundations of the buildings.
“The drop in this valley is 90 degrees,” said Gabriel Pari, city manager of water, sanitation, environmental management and risk at the El Alto mayor’s office.
“That’s exactly why we want them to leave this place. If they don’t want to leave, we will have to use force.’
However, the shamans hold on, despite the fact that the back doors of the rickety houses only have a narrow edge before the ground completely sinks away.
A drone shot shows a row of houses, known locally as ‘suicide houses’, dwellings built on the edge of an earthen cliff and often serving as workplaces for Aymara shamans, in El Alto, Bolivia, December 3, 2024
The image shows a thin line of thin structures hanging from the edge of the cliff
Experts and city officials have warned of the danger of living on the clifftop homes, but residents have decided to stick with it
“We are not going to move from this place because this is our daily workplace,” said yatiri Manuel Mamani, as he made an offering to the Pachamama with a fire outside his home.
‘But we are going to take care of the soil, especially the rainwater, we are going to channel it so that the water goes somewhere else.’
El Alto, and the political capital of the highlands, La Paz, nestled in the valley below, often clouds the mind with the steep landscape that reflects the surrounding Andes mountains. It prompted local authorities to build cable cars to help people get around.
And that landscape is becoming more treacherous as weather patterns become more extreme, something that has been exacerbated by climate change.
Gabriel Lopez Chiva, another yatiri, said he was, however, confident that the Pachamama would protect him.
“We can have a sacrificial ceremony, we do it as payment and this way the land will never move because Pachamama needs a sacrifice. It’s like feeding and this way this place won’t move. On the contrary, it will stabilize,” he said.