I never thought in my wildest dreams I would go to a Carnival. Much less one as crazy as this one.
Our journey there was just so…Bolivian. Of course I met up with Wendy (Bolivian girl I met through Oliver’s) over an hour late. Traffic everywhere, can’t get a cab, cab can’t take us all the way there. Finally meet up with Cinthia (Another Bolivian girl I met through Oliver’s) and Michelle (An Australian that met Cinthia just the night before and was along for the ride!) just about the time the bus was supposed to leave, 7pm. Everyone on the bus already has their bottles open and the drinks are pouring. We can’t leave until the driver gets permission, it will only be 1 more hour they say. Ya right, this is Bolivia. After almost 2 more hours, everyone had abandoned our bus so decide we should too. We get onto a very nice bus, that is full and about to leave when, wait!!! Our bus is leaving and we have to get on it! Why?! Well there are people staying at Cinthia’s house so we HAVE to go. Uhhhh ok…. So the 4 of us girl get off to loud “BOOOO’s” because now the bus is not full and can’t leave. “no es me culpa” we yell….
Hop on the original bus and it leaves right away, thank goodness. Bottles open, music is turned up and dancing ensues.
Oh wait I forgot to say how I had to pee in an alleyway during all this waiting. As I would find out, not so unusual for carnival.
Everyone has to be silent as we go through the two checkpoints, which is like trying to settle down a bunch of little kids hopped up on sugar.
The time passes fast but still, we don’t reach Oruro until 4 am where we are greeted with the bitter cold. A quick cab ride and we arrive at Cinthia’s house where we bundle up on the floor and fall asleep.
Wake up early and head off to the parade. Excitement is in the air. We don’t have seats yet so we just decide to walk toward the plaza (the end of the parade). We walk and walk and walk, with what seems like no plan. But I have to trust the Bolivians on this one. Then michelle sees a guy she knows from cholitas wrestling across the way and waves hello. Cinthia is insistent that we go find them, Michelle and I don’t understand why. They had only met once and barely knew each other. But we find him and they start talking. Turns out he is in a huge group of Couchsurfers (an online site for travelers to stay at each others houses for free and meet up in new places) so we hang around by the fence and talk to them. We hit the jackpot. We found great people and didn’t pay for seats (seats can cost up to 500 or more bolivianos!)
Pacenas, pacenas, foam, pacenas, foam…oh ya and lots of dancers!!!! The bands were incredible and everyone sang along in the stands. We went out and danced with the dancers in their incredible costumes. Talked to everyone around us and shared drinks. Such an incredible day (minus the terrible bathrooms)
Then I met Irma (a fellow teacher from the deaf school) to get my costume for our dance! We had to buy shoes and hair tassels too.
More madness ensued until CRAZY rain started at 8pm. It was an intense downpour that flooded the streets immediately! Once it clamed down I walked to where I was supposed to meet irma. But with no phone, I was lost. Finally I walked up to a group of guys that had on my group belt. They kindly let me use their phone and I found Irma. Then I got my hair braided! And put on my traditional dress!
There was still HOURS to go before we got to dance. We went to Irma’s house for a coffee then back to the waiting area. I talked with the guys in the band and drank lots and lots of Singani. Finally it was time! In the rain at 1pm we started our dance. There was barely anyone in the stands at first. And I was still struggling with the steps. But the further we got the more exciting it was. People were still cheering and singing with us! After hours and hours of dancing and waiting and drinking, we get close to the plaza. We sing, “ we are going to the plaza, we are going to the plaza, with all the happiness” When we enter the plaza its like another world. Everyone in the full stands are on their feet, and screaming at us! The energy is incredible! To think, some of these people have been here since 9 AM and its now 4 AM!
Finally we enter the church, which was an incredibly strange feeling for me. A unique experience for sure. Everyone goes silent and gets on their knees. A prayer is said and we crawl through the church “en rodillas” up to the virgin mary. Then we backed out on our knees so not to turn our backs. That was redundant.
Time to go home. Nice sleep on Irma’s couch.
In the morning, I had no money, no phone and no idea where to go. A quick chorizo sandwhich and I tried to find Cinthia’s house. After a few wrong doors we found out they weren’t there. So I headed back to our seats from yesterday. Thank goodness they were there!
More parade, more pacenas, more fun. Sunday the costumes were more traditional, beautiful and colorful. A quick dinner and put on more clothes. And watched the parade until our eyes were almost closed.
Sleep in, find a mini bus home, luckily cinthia doesn’t pay so we each pay half price!
All in all it was an amazing experience I will never forget.
Until a stupid kid threw a water balloon out of a moving car and gave me a huge black eye! Now that I would like to forget…
