1. Seite:
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
Posted on

Oruro – Dia del Diablo y del Moreno

The Monday of the carnival in Oruro is dedicated to the Diablada and Morenada. These are traditional dances, which should remind of the colonial times of the Spaniards. Indians and later also African slaves had to do forced labor in the silver mines at that time and were driven there chained together (rattles). The Morenada is said to commemorate a slave uprising in which a beautiful slave girl distracted the slave driver and got him drunk. As a result, the caporal (slave driver) had to stomp grapes. The story is re-enacted with costumes in the folklore festival square in front of the cathedral “Iglesia del Socavon”. Also the fight between the angelic army around Archangel Michael, against the devils (or deadly sins) is performed dancing. All in honor of the Virgin of Socavon (patron saint of miners).


In the afternoon, the dancers say goodbye to the Virgin. They enter the church dancing without masks and ask for strength and success for the coming year. We had to admire the condition of the carnival dancers. After three days of almost dancing uphill in heavy costumes and sometimes adventurous shoes!!!

 

We took the cable car in between to the “Monumento a la Virgen del Socavon” , a large statue of the Madonna on a mountain. From up there you have a great view over the city. We also had a look at the church. Very beautiful with blue sky and many angels. There was also a devil mask with lots of fresh flowers at the feet of the Virgin at the altar. In front of the church there was a kind of fair. Among other things, whole cakes were auctioned off like in Hamburg at the fish market. We ate baked bananas and corn on the cob. After dark we took a cab back to our hotel.

Silke

Posted on

La Paz – Oruro – Carnaval

At 6:00 am the bus started for Oruro – 10:00 am arrival. Our hotel Oruro Inn is located not far from the new bus terminal, between unfinished houses and streets, just outside the city. Here in Oruro, Carnival is celebrated in a big way. Practically 3 days continuously. We took a cab into the city and watched the spectacle from 13:00 to 21:30. We sat on a grandstand on the front bench. Lots of brass bands, fantastic colorful costumes and great dancing! There are only foot or dance groups and bands in the parade. Some girls wear boots with dangerously high heels. Many costumes look insanely heavy. Sometimes there are groups of 100 or more people jumping back and forth in formation. During breaks, the kids splash each other with foam cans. Sometimes even innocent bystanders get splashed!

Many vendors come by the stands with cotton candy, beer, cake, selfie sticks, etc. We sat with very nice, fun Bolivians. Reiner and his “neighbor” bought each other a beer.

Today’s parade is scheduled to continue until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately, we got a little cold and after getting up early we were tired. A cab brought us back to the hotel.

Silke

Posted on

Puno – La Paz

The bus to Bolivia La Paz left this morning at 6:45. The border crossing was in Kasani. We walked from the Peruvian border post to the Bolivian one. Just past the border in Copacabana we had to change buses and wait two hours for a smaller one.

We passed the time with a game of Carcassonne. Reiner won twice. A few kilometers further, everyone had to get off the bus again. We were supposed to cross Lake Titicaca by ferry. The bus crossed on an extra raft. Each passenger had to buy a ticket for 2 Bolivianos. But since we hadn’t changed any currency yet and the ticket seller didn’t want to take USD, we stood there with our USD and couldn’t get on the boat! A Japanese tourist spontaneously gave us the 4 BOL (0.50 EUR), so the trip could continue. While driving through the Bolivian capital we saw a carnival procession on the other side of the street.

So we arrived at 18:00 in La Paz bus terminal. Actually we should be there already at 15:00. Our hostel is just around the corner from the bus terminal. We did not find a restaurant. There was noodle soup for Reiner and banana and Pringels for me.

Silke

Posted on

Cusco – Puno – Lake Titicaca – Floating Islands

Today we went from Cusco to Puno with a very comfortable double-decker coach of the company “Cruz del Sol”. There was even a cheese roll and tea included. Puno is located directly on Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater lake in South America, at 3812 meters above sea level. Right after we checked in at the hotel “Maya Inn” at 3:45pm, we went to the port. There we took a 2 hour trip to the floating islands of the Urus in Lake Titicaca. Several families live there on islands tied together from totora reeds. The traditional boats are also made of reeds and resemble gondolas only as catamarans with cat or puma heads.

We were driven to the main island in such a “Peru Mercedes”. The houses are also made of reeds, clay stoves are fired with dried reed stalks and stand on stones. Day tourists are welcomed with pleasure and the inhabitants tell ( in Spanish ) about the history and construction of their village.

There is even a marketplace of sorts with a grocery store, several souvenir stands and a restaurant. Back on land, we bought avocados, tomatoes, carrots and mango at the market and made a raw vegetable salad at the hotel.

Silke

Posted on

Machu Picchu Day 2

We got up at 4:30am to catch the 5:30am bus because we had booked a ticket today to Machu Picchu including Montana Machu Picchu with admission at 7:00am. The morning was very rainy and on our climb (lots of stairs) we saw next to nothing of Machu Picchu town.

We were also more or less in a cloud at the top. Around noon it cleared up a little , and we could already see Machu Picchu from above during the descent. We “bribed” a llama with a cracker and it looked with into our camera.

Around 1:00 we took the bus back downhill to Aguas Calientes and picked up our luggage at the hotel. Train ride to Ollantaytambo and from there in the Collectivo to Cusco. Unfortunately, we were not dropped off at the hotel as promised, but had to walk another 3 blocks uphill. On the way we bought avocado, pineapple, cheese and wine for a nice dinner in our room.

Silke

  1. Seite:
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4