Enjoying Bolivia 149of my head; suddenly I belonged. Watch the folks when
a water balloon hits them in a sensitive place by surprise.
The initial shock lasts a few seconds, and then a great
smile breaks out.
As the war went on and the balloon and spray can
arms manufacturers got rich, my maturity level decreased
by years and by decades. I found that I was taking more
photographs of the revelry than the parade. People from
the bleachers that lined the streets joined in with the
dancers and revellers only casually acquainted were
suddenly arm in arm.
The most inhibited among us will shed their social
façades at Carnaval in Oruro. There is something very
special when the sombre mining town of Oruro is aroused
into sublime joy for three days in late February.
“My only saddening thought,” commented Daniel
Clinch, a British colleague who went to Oruro, “was that
a country like England with such a rich history of tradition
and culture had nothing to match, not even a patch, on
Carnaval in Oruro.
“In England, the combination of alcohol, lots of
people and an abundant supply of water balloons would
be a catastrophe. As the day progressed, the standard of
behaviour would deteriorate and as the evening unfurled,
a mass brawl would undoubtedly ensue.”
Clinch remained in Oruro for the whole shebang. The
anarchy escalated, but the good spirits of the occasion
never diminished. “It’s a memory that will last forever,”
he says with a radiant glow in his eyes.March
12 March—Pujjllay. In Tarabuco, near Sucre.
Commemorates a local victory over Spanish troops prior
to independence. More than 10,000 local villagers from 68
communities arrive in their fi nest clothes, adorned with
fruits of the earth. Lots of eating, drinking and dancing.
19 March—San José. A three-day festival just outside
of Oruro at the San José mine. Music, fi reworks and a
commercial fair.