Revelry in Oruro

When I finally arrived back from Lake Titicaca, I continued working with the Bolivian Amphibian Initiative--not by counting frogs this time, but by lowering my pants a little and trying my hand at plumbing. Arturo is working on a captive breeding program in order to curb the decline of Telmatobius frogs in Bolivia, and I joined in to help fix pipes to each of the 30 brand new aquariums. These aquariums are stacked into a trailer parked behind the Museo de Historia Natural in Cochabamba, with a water pipe and electricity cables running through some trees to the main building. It is quite a project, but was satisfying work, not least because four brand-new, adorable puppies lived underneath the trailer. While I haven't been offered health insurance, the workplace benefits here in Bolivia are still superior.


Their mother didn't seem to like them as much as I did.


Oh my god, puppies!!

My plumbing career lasted only for the week before Carnival. The best Carnival celebration in Bolivia--according to my guidebook and any Bolivian I talked to--is in the otherwise drab town of Oruro. Unfortunately, because it is so popular, all hotels are booked many months in advance. Undiscouraged, Ben suggested that four of us rent a car, and sleep in it if need be, since who wants to sleep anyway during Carnival when dancing and drinking goes on all night? So, with a rented pickup truck, Ben, two Bolivian friends Rodrigo and Lorgio, and I set out at 4am to arrive at Oruro in time for the Saturday morning dances.


Dancers take a break from the 48 hours straight of parading.

Oruro was pretty amazing. Dancers, dressed in costumes each worth hundreds of dollars, paraded through the streets for all of Saturday and all of Sunday. Each costume is custom-made, and each dancer buys their own costume in order to be allowed the honor of dancing. We started out in the Plaza de Armas, which hosted some of the best dances, or so we were told. Most of the people here were tourists (seats cost upwards of $70, quite pricy for Bolivia) and the atmosphere was only moderately festive. When we got tired of standing on a windowsill in order to see ($70 is after all quite pricy), we went to our seats along the main avenue. Here, absolute mayhem ruled.

Trying to find our seats was an adventure in itself. As we stood at the foot of the bleachers looking for our (nonexistent) seats, people in the stands immediately blasted us with spuma that temporarily blinded us, making it more difficult to locate empty space in the bleachers.


We looked like these people.

Finally we staggered up the creaky rows, fantastically defeated by the crowds, and watched the thousands of dancers and bands parade by.



I managed to mostly take pictures of the Amazonian dances, but there were many other types: dances for the miners, dances for the slavedrivers, dances for the campesinos, dances that I couldn't be sure what they represented.

The revelry was excessive in the bleachers: people constantly went by offering food and beer, which people on the stands consumed with abandon. Meanwhile, trash piled up underneath the bleachers, which a whole other class of people rooted through for beer cans they could return for money. Walking was dangerous for the spuma in the eyes, for the water guns and balloons, and for the crowds. To get back to our car we had to cross the parade at some point, which guards let us do every 15 minutes or so. Trying to cross the road was the only time in my life I felt I could die from being trampled or crushed.

As much as I wanted to stay awake all night and watch the dances, I managed to fall asleep on the bleachers at about 10:30pm (what is wrong with me?). So, I can't tell you much about what happened at night, but supposedly this is when the best dances occurred.

Of course, the dances continued the next morning, but we took the morning to explore the city a little more, and watch from one of the hills surrounding the town.




We stopped at some hot springs on the way home, where you can get a private bath for four people. It was odd but very pleasant, and VERY hot.