Blogs from Oruro, Oruro Department, Bolivia, South America - page 6

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South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro February 17th 2007

After much anticipation and planning, Laurence and I arrived in Oruro, Bolivia for this country´s version of Carnival. The exerience was something else, one that I will not soon forget. Arriving late Thurday afternoon, I explored streets filled with onlookers and drunken dancers. These groups, marching, dancing and singing in the streets prior to the main event on Saturday represented the smaller rural campesinos who also celebrate carnival. These small groups made up of dancing women and music playing me were a great introduction to the festivities to come and were a treat to watch. All over the city of Oruro, stands had been or were being erected along the parade route in anticiopation of the throngs of people expected for the weekend´s carnical. In addition to this, it became obvious that water fights, ballons and ... read more
Men playing music
What the...
One of the many carnival characters

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro February 15th 2007

Carnaval de Oruro: Fenruary 15-18, 2007 The Carnaval in Rio, Brazil may have acquired an international reputation throughout the years but the Carnaval in Oruro, Bolivia definitely deserves a visit! I will even say that this Carnaval is intimate as the stands along the road, where the dancers and musicians parade, are located only few meters from this colourful and loud spectacle! The Diablada, which started on February 17, represents the entrance of the devil in the city and consists of a multitude of orchestras and of colourful dancers with amazing costumes! We arrived at our seats at 7:30am and remained there until the end of the afternoon. Besides the spectacular parade, music and dance, the Carnaval is also known for its famous water balloons and foam battles...or should I say "Get the gringo" contest! Throughout ... read more
Carnaval de Oruro
Carnaval de Oruro
Carnaval de Oruro

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro February 5th 2007

Had breakfast with John, Rach, Sophia and Teresa. Then later said goodbuy as everybody was either staying in La Paz or off in another direction. Infact John and Rach were going to attempt to cycle the worlds most dangerous road and I saw the opertunity of having limited time as a way of getting out of it. After breakfast I went out in search of munchys for my bus journey to Uyuni (13 hours plus stop and change at Oruro). I had the urge for cheese and onion pringles and couldnt find the dam things anywhere (I swear there were loads yesterday) finally found some plain cheese ones and had lunch in the financial district at a fast food joint. At 3:30 I grabed the bus and after 3 hours made it to Oruro. At Oruro ... read more

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro January 31st 2007

La Pazin lentokentälle saavuttuamme totesimme, että ei ollut enää niin kuumaa kuin Chilessä. La Pazin ollessa maailman korkeimmalla oleva pääkaupunki (4000 metriä) happeakaan ei ollut liikaa käytettävissä. Ei silleen, että oltaisiin haukottu happea viimeistä päivää, mutta pienikin urheilusuoritus (kuten rinkankanto 100m) pisti pikkaisen puuskuttamaan. Lentokentällä sitten pidettiin pieni palaveri koskien seuraavaa päämäärää. Päätettiin ihmetellä La Pazia myöhemmin ja lähteä suoraan Oruroon, noin neljän tunnin bussimatkan päähän etelään. Juuri ennen bussimatkaa kävimme syömässä. Paikkaan ilmestyi joku vanha mies, joka pyysi syötävää joka pöydästä. Siinä sitten ihmeteltiin, kun kaveri otti pöydästä kupin, joka on täynnä jotain tulista kastiketta ja kaatoi suoraan suuhun. Tämä ei kaverille kuitenkaan riittänyt, vaan hän otti myös suolasirottimen ja alkoi mussuttamaan suolaa. Että silleen.. ... read more
Hiace
Torilla
Katja ja Oruro

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro January 31st 2007

After spending a couple of days in Cuzco, relaxing after the inca trail (Bryce went white water rafting and Georgie had a massage and much needed pedicure!), we headed into the jungle for 2 nights. This was an amzing experience - very hot and humid dense rainforest. We saw quite a lot of wildlife, mainly monkeys, macaws, bats, priranhas, capybara (a rodent the size of a wombat), and cayman (related to the crocodile). The accomodation we stayed in was a lodge which basically meant that it was pretty open air - we had mosquito nets over us at night and we could hear the fruit bats in the roof eating food and dropping it on the ground around us! After the Amazon we headed to Arequipa for a couple of nights. We spent a day looking ... read more
Fishing for Priranhas
Macaw through a binocular lense
Capybara (just like a wobat but a rodent)

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro January 20th 2007

This will be a relatively short entry as not much really happened this Saturday that I spent in Oruro. My goal for this trip to Oruro was to find a hotel for my friends and I for Carnaval as it was coming up in less than a month and the rooms were going quick. Friday after work, I zipped to the bus terminal to try to catch a 7PM bus to Oruro so that I would arrived at around 10:30PM. After waiting in line for a few minutes, the bus company said they were full. Then they came around saying they had one seat left, the one in the back in the middle, and I took that. The advantage of this I guess, is that they snuck me through their office to the bus so that ... read more
Prefectura on Plaza de 10 de Febrero
Prefectura on Plaza de 10 de Febrero
Pigeons in the plaza

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro December 26th 2006

Finally it is Boxing Day, or otherwise, the first day of almost a two week adventure of southern Bolivia. My destination for today, Uyuni, the home of the largest salt flat in the world. It has been on the top of my list of things to see in Bolivia, so I was going to check it off first. Karin, my roommate, was heading that way as well, so we decided we'd travel together as far as Uyuni. Believe it or not, on Boxing Day morning, Karin had a schedule meeting with someone that worked for the city, so when she went to the meeting (which ended up being cancelled), I went to the bus station to find out about buses to Uyuni. I found out that most of the buses leave for Uyuni at 7PM and ... read more
Highway to Oruro
Tending to sheep on the side of the road
Scenary on the way to Oruro

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro March 28th 2006

I survived the 3650m descent, 64km down the world´s most dangerous road! We started on bitumen at 4760m in the freezing cold, and ended up in the tropics at 1100m... A fabulous ride, leaving our arms sore from bumping down the rocky road! We were lucky there were hardly any trucks to contend with, however, as there had been a landslide over part of the road (we made our way over the rocks carrying our bikes..). The day ended with a shower and lunch in a hotel overlooking the gorgeous valley and the hair-raising road we had ridden down... (Actually, it ended with me -who had been chatting to a lovely English girl Ruth the whole way home, exchanging travel stories - suddenly realising I was exhausted, but anyway being talked into going to buy and ... read more
At the top of the WMDR (World's Most Dangerous Road)
Looking back on the WMDR
Women carry their wares on their back in brightly coloured cloths

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro March 15th 2006

There are four of us now, Mark, myself, Hannah, and Aaron, our guide. We are on our way down to the Uyuni area to see the salt flats, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Bolivia in the first place. To get there, from La Paz, is a full day of travel. First, a 3 hour bus ride to Oruro (try saying that a few times fast), then a train ride to Uyuni. In order to have to most authentic experience possible, the bus broke down promptly about 1 hour into our destination, and our bags and our bus companions got to hang out Bolivian roadside style, waiting for our new bus coming from, you guessed it, exactly where we had left from an hour before. The net effect of our ... read more




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