The most amazing feature of El Alto is its unbelievable open-air market, which fills mile upon mile of city streets every Sunday and Thursday. This is one of the largest markets in the world. Here vendors by the thousands (and I am not exaggerating) offer a humongous variety of anything you would ever want including piles of used T-shirts and other clothing that arrive in bales from the United States, cars, new or used (and sometimes stolen), neatly arranged arms, legs and heads from broken Barbie dolls, electric guitars, mummified baby llamas, pickax handles, illegal copies of CD's, DVD's and computer software, half used medical equipment, used syringes and myriad other items. The used car parts area covers an area the size of multiple football fields.

Each week, millions of dollars pour through the market, which operates in an almost total vacuum of government intervention, taxes or regulations.