Oruro, Bolivia
One of Bolivia’s top tourist attractions is the carnival in Oruro. This celebration is a mix between the Andean and Spanish cultures. It starts the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday and finishes on Ash Wednesday. The Oruro Carnival attracts around half a million people every year. You will see traditional folk dancing, colorful costumes, lively music, and lots of parties all over the city. It is a tradition that has lasted over two hundred years.
El Tio is a popular character of the Oruro carnival. He is said to be the uncle of the mountains. At some point during the carnival, he changes into the devil. Miners dance for him to avoid angering him. The main parade is held on Carnival Saturday. It can last for twenty hours. It consists of twenty thousand dancers, one hundred and fifty bands, and ten thousand musicians that are broken up into sixty groups.