El Alto is Bolivia’s second-largest city and one of the country’s fastest-growing urban centres. Its inhabitants largely comprise the Aymara, an indigenous community hailing from the altiplano (high plains), and their quest to establish a hybrid identity – one that is true to their roots and yet embracing of modernity – is playing out in the city’s emerging architecture. Self-taught architect and El Alto resident Freddy Mamani Silvestre’s bold and brightly coloured cholets embody the colours and motifs of Aymara culture, forming a symbol of the community’s newfound prosperity. During the annual Alasitas festival, the Aymara pay their respects to Ekeko – the god of abundance and good fortune. Miniatures of the community’s material and spiritual desires are offered up to Ekeko, in the hope that they will realise the wishes of those who are true of faith. Here, the cholets of El Alto are recreated in miniature; in all their optimistic and playful glory.