Carnaval de Oruro

The Carnaval de Oruro is one of South America's great festivals, designated a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It takes place in February or early March (the exact dates change each year, falling on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday) and draws over 400,000 visitors to a city of 280,000 people.

The centrepiece is the Entrada, a parade that runs for up to eleven hours through the streets of the city. Some 28,000 dancers in forty-eight different dance groups perform the Diablada and other traditional Andean dances, all moving toward the Santuario del Socavón. The costumes are extraordinary: full-face devil masks, sequined capes, feathered headdresses. Each dance troupe has its own band. The sound is relentless and the spectacle is overwhelming.

Advance planning is essential. Hotels in Oruro book up months ahead and prices multiply tenfold. Many visitors arrange accommodation in La Paz and take an early bus in on the parade day — a three-hour journey.

things to do sight
A story
The Diablada — the Dance of the Devils — depicts the biblical battle between Archangel Michael and Lucifer, with the dancers representing the seven deadly sins in costumes that can weigh over 40 kilos and cost the equivalent of months of wages to commission. The tradition predates the Spanish conquest, and the Christian overlay was added gradually over centuries rather than imposed all at once.