La Diablada (Dance of the Devils)

The annual carnaval of Oruro just began February 5th!

Sandra and I arrived from Chile just in time for "La Entrada". This is the main event of the carnaval, a massive parade of dancers to kicking off the 5-day fiesta.

The procession began at 8am (but the party had already started the night before), and it continued until - no joke - 5am the next day. Its was a delight for the eyes, seeing all the brillantly colourfed costumes and their traditional dances which usually has some historical meaning. For example, there is one dance that portrays in a not-so-flattering way, the African slaves that were brought over to work in the mines, or another that is a satire of the European mine owners with their ridiculous amount of wealth. The dancers dance the whole 6 km of the route, in their often heavy or hot costumes, and for some, with their platform boots. Their enthusiasm and passion for dancing is vibrantly expressed, and its more than just entertainment, the whole carnaval was really an experience.

Of course, the water balloon fights you engage in with random strangers added to the fun! Every time there was a gap in the parade, people would chuck water balloons to the stands on the other side!! Not just to the other side, there were constant mini-wars within our block of seats.

In addition to the water balloons, they also have this ingenious invention, this spray that sprays white foam, but this foam, it doesn´t damage your clothes, it doesn´t hurt if you get some in your eyes, and it even smells nice! Sandra and I lost count of how many cans of these sprays we went through.... we also borrowed Andi´s water gun (Andi danced in the parade, so he didn´t need it), one of those high-pressure ones, which could shoot with accurate aim about 20 meters away. We were armed to the teeth! So of course we were also hit a lot...but it was FUN!

What I was most impressed with was the organization and management of the parade. I´ve never seen such coordination and efficiency here in Bolivia. I gotta hand it to the Bolivians, they sure know how to run a massive carnaval! Even by western standards, the carnaval was top-notch. The dancers were constantly supplied with liquid to prevent dehydration, there were plenty of "helpers" who walked along with the dancers and helped them with any trouble with their costumes (some of the costumes are incredibly elaborate and complicated).

And with the water balloon fights, the discretion that was self-imposed by the audience was extraordinary. I had heard that the dancers are supposed to be immune from water balloons, but that that rule is often ignored and they get hit anyways, and there are also some with really bad intentions, who put paint in the balloons insead of water. But I never saw one dancer get hit (unless by accident), and if you were holding a camera, you were pretty much untouchable (until you put your camera away, of course). Also, after the sun goes down and the temperature drops, there were hardly any people walking around with water balloons, and mainly just the spray was used (which isn´t cold, and doesn´t get you wet either) This aspect of the carnaval made it especially enjoyable.

The morning of the 2nd day, there was a morning fiesta in the town´s biggest church, where everybody gathered to watch the sun rise. There was some meaning to this tradition, although i can´t remember. We had only slept 3 hours, but managed to drag ourselves there at 5am, which was well worth it to watch the sun rise with live band music. It felt like every participant of the carnaval, the dancers, the bands, the watchers, all came together to celebrate good times.

The carnaval will definately one of the highlights of my experience here in Bolivia!