Oruro Journals

Worshipping Devils: Diablada, Pachamama, Kari Kari

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A February 2007 trip to Oruro by SeenThat

Kari Kari, Diablada, Pachamama and the Tio Photo - Oruro, Bolivia More Photos
Quote: Different forms of devil’s worshipping appear in the Andean cultures; Oruro provides an intriguing insight into most of them.

Worshipping Devils: Diablada, Pachamama, Kari Kari

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Overview

Kari Kari, Diablada, Pachamama and the Tio Photo - Oruro, Bolivia
Quote:
HighlightsCarnival is the main - and some say the only - attraction in Oruro. UNESCO recognized it as a Human Heritage event and due to it the city is called the Folkloric Capital of Bolivia. La Diablada - (The Devilish) as the event is usually called -takes place on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and is a huge parade of devils performed by dancers in elaborate masks and customs, which attracts crowds from the whole country.Plaza 10 de Febrero is the town's focal point. It features less important buildings that its counterparts in ...Read More

Sheraton Restaurant

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Story/Tip

Street Posters Photo - La Paz, Bolivia
Quote:
Located in front of the bus terminal, the Sheraton Restaurant is handy and offers good meals. In Bolivia that means they serve the same dishes as everybody else but that they use better ingredients and serve larger quantities. The prices here are roughly twice the ones at regular restaurants, but even then few dishes cross the three dollars mark. The dishes are huge and sharing them between two persons seems to be the only chance of finishing them.Pique (Pee-kae) Macho is one of the most elusive dishes in the Bolivian cuisine. It has a chauvinistic name that no local was able to explain it satisfactorily to me. It seems to be different in every restaurant serving it; however, in the carbohydra...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 16, 2007

Carnival in Oruro: Diablada

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Story/Tip

Kari Kari, Diablada, Pachamama and the Tio Photo - Oruro, Bolivia
Quote:
Carnival is the main – and some say the only – attraction in Oruro. UNESCO recognized it as a Human Heritage event and due to it the city is called the Folkloric Capital of Bolivia.La Diablada takes place on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and is a huge parade of devils performed by dancers in elaborate masks and customs, which attracts crowds from the whole country.Finding accommodations and a comfortable place to look at the parade from is difficult. It is recommended to book places through the travel agencies in La Paz before arriving at Oruro.The telling signs of the carnival appear weeks before the event. In Oruro’s crowded streets, kids armed with water-guns and water-f...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 15, 2007

Downtown Oruro

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Story/Tip

Llama Phoetuses Photo - La Paz, Bolivia
Quote:
Downtown Oruro is remarkably less colonial than other major cities in Bolivia, maybe due to its relative lack of importance. 3700 meters above the sea level and roughly at the center of the Andean plateau, Oruro features a cold, windy climate; the burning rays of the sun during the day are exchanged by mercilessly freezing nights.Plaza 10 de Febrero is the town’s focal point. It features less important buildings that its counterparts in La Paz or Sucre, but that creates a good opportunity to enjoy the plaza itself. Most modern cities have obliterated the notion of a central plaza and thus modern people ignore the joy of sitting at a bench surrounded by green gardens while having the absol...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 16, 2007

Sleeping in Oruro

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Story/Tip

Bady Drink Photo - La Paz, Bolivia
Quote:
In my several visits to Oruro I failed to find suitable accommodations. There are two areas featuring hotels. The main one is next to the bus terminal and the second is next to the train station. The first is by far more attractive, despite the second being next to a night market offering plenty of local food meals. Overtime I tried both areas - I couldn't change my hosts' decisions - and had an opportunity to compare.Some characteristics were shared by the establishments in both areas. Despite the Romans having fairly mastered the science of plumbing a couple of millennia ago, it is still part of a distant, utopic future in ...Read More

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SeenThat

SeenThat
Tel Aviv, Israel

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