Carnaval Bolivia style is much different than the Brazilian version. There are no sexy women wearing small outfits parading around on floats. And the crowd is different; hundreds of thousands of people are not dancing about in super party mode. I've never been to Carnaval in Brazil, but I have seen the pics. I wasn't in a party mode and so Bolivia's pace was more my style anyway. Bolivia's version seemed much more about the people, all 400,000 of them in attendance with very few tourists, and their traditions.
The Bolivian Carnaval tradition began with the Uru people of Bolivia celebrating their Ito festival, an Andean tradition to celebrate mother earth that later turned into the Virgin Mary due to Christian influence. The Spanish stopped this and the tradition converted into a more Catholic ritual around Lent. The festivities begin a month before Lent, but the real fun starts Thursday before Lent.
On Thursday, the indigenous people of the varying communities parade around the city in their traditional dress and music. This parade literally goes on all day and I could not stop taking photos of all the colors and faces with the scenic Andes mountain background.
On Saturday, the real festivities began. Starting at 7am, a parade of costumed individuals starting with devils dancing with cuddly white bears (not sure how those performers survive the heat in full fuff), musicians rocking out (interestingly only men are in the bands), and single women in short skirts swinging their hips and married women in longer skirts swaying theirs. They come from all over Bolivia and proudly demonstrate their talents. In an unbelievable fashion, the last group doesn't start until 1am including the little kids. There are just that many performers in the parade, 20,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians. The parade snakes its way up and around the streets of Oruro until it comes to the final stop 4km later, the church at the top of the hill, where supposedly in 1789 a mural of the Virgin Mary appeared here in the richest mineshaft and therefore Oruro became the place to be for Carnaval and they worship the Virgin de la Candelaria. At the top, they put on their best performance in front of the church located next to the mineshaft before nearly dying of exhaustion. When the last group ends around 7am, the first group starts all over again. The first day the performers are not suppose to drink out of respect for the Virgin, but the second day, they are all drinking as they mosey along the parade route. They also don't have to wear masks the second day, which isn't as much fun to watch, but they seem in better spirits because of the liquor.
How the women in the parade stop to take bathroom breaks is still a mystery along with how they dance for some 5hrs or more in those heels uphill. I am truly impressed with their stamina. Many of these women look 60, but most women in Bolivia look older than they really are. They are probably 25 in reality and can take these long dance routines.
In between debuts, small children pound unknowing victims with water from water balloons or water guns as well as with spraying foam cream. I try not to make eye contact and look innocent as I walk by them, but invariably, I am hit. Most people wear ponchos during the parade just to avoid this and those carrying weapons are just waiting to be attacked. I participated in this activity in Cochabamba during the elections, but just didn't want to get wet here because it was cold and I really don't like to be wet.
I put my pics in a slideshow format and so those receiving this via a feed or email may need to go to the actual site to view the pics.
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