I was expecting that Monday would be business as usual again in Oruro, and that I would maybe get to visit a museum or two. Well, far from it. Monday and Tuesday are national holidays in Bolivia - apparently they take carnival seriously here ;-)
So I just wandered the streets again, looking at the aftermath of the two-day parade.
The first thing I discovered was that the plaza that had served as the endpoint for the parade was now richly decorated with colorful arches.
People were paying their respects to the virgin of Socavón in the adjacent church, and next to the arches, the plaza was packed with food stalls and people.
As I fled the too-crowded plaza, I found that carnival groups were marching through the streets seemingly at random. The order within the groups was the same as the days before - dancers, band, dancers - but today, there was little dancing, and almost everyone had left their costumes at home.
Even when it started raining in the afternoon, I continued to see groups playing in the streets.
In the evening, I made my way to the bus terminal to return to Sucre. I walked along the main parade street and watched how everyone took down their seats. When I arrived in Oruro three days ago, I hadn't noticed that there were train tracks in the center of the street. Now they were clearly visible, along with pieces of tar that seemed to have recently broken out of the street.
I wonder whether this was due to heavy rains on the weekend, or due to thousands of parading feet?
So I just wandered the streets again, looking at the aftermath of the two-day parade.
The first thing I discovered was that the plaza that had served as the endpoint for the parade was now richly decorated with colorful arches.
People were paying their respects to the virgin of Socavón in the adjacent church, and next to the arches, the plaza was packed with food stalls and people.
As I fled the too-crowded plaza, I found that carnival groups were marching through the streets seemingly at random. The order within the groups was the same as the days before - dancers, band, dancers - but today, there was little dancing, and almost everyone had left their costumes at home.
Even when it started raining in the afternoon, I continued to see groups playing in the streets.
In the evening, I made my way to the bus terminal to return to Sucre. I walked along the main parade street and watched how everyone took down their seats. When I arrived in Oruro three days ago, I hadn't noticed that there were train tracks in the center of the street. Now they were clearly visible, along with pieces of tar that seemed to have recently broken out of the street.
I wonder whether this was due to heavy rains on the weekend, or due to thousands of parading feet?
