Fierce anti-capitalist rhetoric, incense and fluttering banners filled the air in Tiquipaya, Bolivia, as an alternative climate summit got underway.
Shamans from different Andean indigenous groups held ceremonies and made offerings to Mother Earth at the opening of the World People's Conference on Climate Change.
The opening ceremony took place in a soccer stadium with an estimated crowd of 10,000, watching indigenous people perform folk dances and songs in traditional clothing.
Bolivian President Evo Morales addressed the cheering crowd, saying that the conference was organised because developed countries had not fulfilled their duty to make substantial commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.
He went on to say that the world faced a startling choice.
"There are two paths, that of Mother Earth or of death. We have two paths, capitalism dies or Mother Earth dies, capitalism lives or Mother Earth lives," he said.
"We are here for life, for unity, for humanity and for the rights of Mother Earth," Morales added.
During his speech, Morales also said men should stay away from chicken if they want to maintain their hair and virility.
Morales said that chicken producers inject the birds with female hormones "and because of that, men who consume them have problems being men".
He also suggested eating too much chicken for too long could make men go bald.
But Morales' warning may be out of date.
Chicken producers in Europe, the United States and many other countries say they abandoned the use of hormones in poultry several decades ago and many, if not most, Western nations ban them outright.
The president also blasted Coca-Cola, calling the soft drink "harmful".
The conference concludes at the end of this week.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected to be among leaders attending the conference.
APTN