A 3am start this morning, as we set off to the carnival at Oruro, which is supposed to be the best carnival in this region of Bolivia. I{m not quite clear why the carvivals happen now - it being 2nd Feb and they calling it the festival of the Virgin del Candelaria, it could be something to do with candlemas (though I didnīt think that was a BVM festival - still, most things here seem to be something to do with her) or it could be just a pre-lenten thing. Anyway, we were up at 2.30 to be picked up at 3, but karate kid got up so slowly to let us out when the guide rang the doorbell of the hostel that by the time weīd got outside, the bus was gone and we had to wait outside didging drunks before, luckily, they came back for us. I wonīt describe the desperately uncomfortable journey, with the faux-bearded oik repeatedly falling asleep on my shoulder (I wanted to say, sweetie, itīs not manly to grow just a long tuft of barely post-pubescent hair on your chin, you look like a tosser. Oh, and by the way, if you let your head loll on my shoulder again I will show you that I know how to kill a man with one hand), or the numerous spine-cracking moments as the bus hit pothole after pothole in the road, or how the driver got lost on the way back to La Paz that evening. We got a small gift on the bus that morning - a can of artificial snow and a plastic poncho (both of which were to come in handy later).On arrival at Oruro, we were shown to our seats (well, our spaces on a plank!) by the side of the parade route and so began a number of bum-numbing hours watching Oruro{s finest dance down the road. It was entertaining for 3 hours, but then I felt Iīd seen as many costumes as I coudl take. During this time too, we were snow-sprayed, water-bombed and shot with water pistols (including by a kid sitting right behind me - I went to get his water pistol off him and fire it at him but I grabbed the wrong bit and broke it! What a bitch. But he didnīt try and wet or snow-spray me again. To the tender-hearted among you - I did consider giving him some money to buy a new one but it wasnīt properly broken, as a number of other people found out later). All through the day it was a free-for-all with the water and foam, our stand throwing water bombs at the one opposite, they retaliating etc. Like I said, entertaining for a while but a bit boring by the end - am I getting old?!
Next day, in La Paz, we went into the city centre and found much the same sort of scene, only this time with the odd running mob of boys attacking a solitary girl, and with the spectators water-bombing the hell out of the people parading, which I thought a little unfair. It was all fairly good-natured, but as Angela suggested, was the sort of thing that might in London start real gang feuds that ended in someone being stabbed.
Today the streets are still very wet, and noisy with firecrackers. I donīt have my poncho, so when I get out of here I will have to run the gauntlet back to the hostel!
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