CALLE JAEN

Calle Apolinar Jaén, its official name, is the most famous street in La Paz and the most full of history. It is like an alleyway in Cordoba or Seville, Spain! Calle Jaén is an integral part of the city's cultural and architectural heritage and is preserved by La Casa de la Cultura. A narrow cobbled street, about 100 meters long, it winds through colorful colonial houses with protruding balconies, some of which house museums, stores, art galleries, and cafes. This is where the residence of Pedro Domingo Murillo, fervent independence fighter and author of the " primer grito " (first cry) for the country's freedom, was located. It was in this house that the first secret meetings of conspirators against the Spanish government were held, and that the first libertarian ideas in South America were born.

In the 16th century, this street, which was then called Cabra-Cancha, was a market for selling and buying the peaceful Andean camelids. It is also famous for its stories of ghosts, goblins and wandering souls... There are many tall tales about it, one of the most famous being that of the Viuda Negra, a condemned widow who seduced drunkards at dawn and left them for dead (in the 18th century, the inhabitants installed a green cross to bless the place and to ward off evil spirits). Today it is a bohemian place par excellence: music is played, exhibitions are held, poems are recited..