FEATURE MATCHER STORY BC-BOLIVIA FUTURE, 2001-08-11 (photo)

Bolivia's aymaras witchdoctors douse an offering to Mother Earth (Pachamama) with alcohol during a traditional ceremony in La Cumbre, August 11, 2001. As the shaman dances around a blazing pyre on a windswept Bolivian summit muttering incantations, a dried llama fetus' head rises like a phoenix from the ashes and the holy man is stopped in his tracks. "Look! Look, that bodes well!" the witch doctor cried, as the couple hiring his services to make a traditional highland Indian offering to "Pachamama" - or Mother Earth - look on, delighted at the prospect of the prosperity such offerings are meant to bring. The ritual to Pachamama performed by tens of thousands of Bolivians every August has added significance this year as the poor Andean nation pins its hopes on a new president. DM/JP