Colorful houses of wealthy Indians in Bolivia

• Colorful houses of wealthy Indians in Bolivia

Photographer and traveler Yuri Segalerba made wonderful pictures of the Bolivian city of El Alto, which is located at 4000 meters above sea level. But geographic location - not the only thing that may surprise this city. It affects, above all, unusual and colorful mansions in the style of Nuevo Andino, created by self-taught architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre.

Multi-storey buildings with geometrically correct facades of screaming colors and large windows called choletami (cholets) - from a French chalet ( "Chalet", a large house) and local, contented neglect a word cholo, indicating the Aymara Indians.

In recent years, El Alto there was a large stratum of the population, consisting of wealthy Indians Aymara, and that they order for a bright cholety a local architect. This new middle class of El Alto and the new extravagant style Nuevo Andino - a reflection of the current changes, add a city of brightness and color.

Cholety have a clearly defined structure: on the ground floor usually are small shops and stalls on the second - a large hall for parties, on the third - a house for rent (the owners could "discourage" the cost of the building), and on the top, in fact, They are the hosts apartment.

This interesting and colorful buildings became a symbol of the economic prosperity of El Alto and Bolivia as a whole.