Carnaval in Oruro, Bolivia on a Budget

“ORURO! ORURO! ORUROOOOOOOOOO!” the ticket sellers proclaimed.

Saturday was the peak day for Carnaval and the bus station in La Paz was packed to the brim with people ready to get on with their Carnaval festivities.

Excitement was in the air. Everyone was ready to head out. We nervously awaited our bus ride out to the town of Oruro, the second largest Carnaval celebration in the world. We were ready…

A few days earlier we had started to do our researching. Things were not looking up. Each hotel had increased their rent 400%. A single night in this town pretty much only known for Carnaval was going to cost us a painful $100. And a tour? I don’t know about you but I don’t have $250 to spend for 2 days. Good seats? Sir, that will cost you $100 and lower for the “crappier” ones down the way away from the peak performances and pyrotechnics.

Well, fine then. We can play that game. We were heading into the last of our budget for our trip so we had to make a few tweaks.

We thought we had it all down.

We’re budget travelers (for the most part) and gosh darn it, we were going to keep it that way.

Transport: A local bus. What normally costs 10Bs was upped to 30. All good though, there were some people advertising 150Bs.

Booze: In the land of coca leaves we decided to make a “smart” decision of filling a 2 liter bottle with 3 bags of coca leaves and 2 bottles of rum. Let it sit for 2 days and you have both your uppers and your downers to fill your 4 person team.

Accommodations: Well, screw you over priced hostels and hotels that were booked months ago, we’re pulling an all-nighter and catching the first bus to La Paz.

Tickets for the Carnaval Parade: SURELY there is a place where locals can sit and watch for free. Every other parade I’ve been to in Central and South America has been like that. We even sat up on a rock fence with a grand view during the bicentennial independence celebrations in Cartagena, Colombia.

Gear for Weather: A jacket and a poncho for rain should be good enough right? We are supposed to be in summer.

Sounds doable right?

This is how it REALLY was.

Transport: While I know it is Bolivia, just be prepared with what you are going to get with a local bus. A cracked windshield and brown, sticky stuff on the floor where we were sitting – we just convinced ourselves someone spilled their Coca Cola. The slowest bus driver in the world got us there in 4 and some hours (although I heard some of the more expensive buses took 6 hours).

Booze: Prices are actually decent for Carnaval. A tallboy of Pacena will run you 10Bs. A regular can will run you 8Bs. While the coca-rum drink was definitely an interesting experience, I cannot even tell you how hung over AND strung out I was at 3 or 4am while waiting for our bus out of town.

Accommodations: We were done with everything by 2am and ready to go home. First bus left at 5am. We were really wishing we had a place to rest our head and our cold selves.

Tickets for the Carnaval Parade: Just to let you know, the entire point of Carnaval was the damn parade. I didn’t know that. I just thought it was a massive party in the street. Oh, and they have no place for locals to enjoy the parade. You have money, you see it. You don’t, well tough cookies. We tried to find a place to sit or see but ultimately we just had to peek at everything from openings in the bleachers. Not exactly that enjoyable (but an experience all on its own).

Gear for Weather: When they suggest bringing ponchos, they didn’t mean for rain. They meant for the massive foam wars and water balloons that get thrown your way. Oh, you’re a gringo? Expect to get it ten fold. I’m not kidding. There was a point where we ran away because we were done. With all of it. Tired. Wanted to punt little children. GANGS of little kids descended upon us. They ruined several beers. I got pegged hard by a water balloon that didn’t pop.

Lets just say it got to the point where I dragged a little kid out of a phone booth that was hiding with his dad and spraying us down with foam as we were taking a small break. His dad laughed. I can’t believe I went up to a strange 6 year old kid and held him down while we sprayed him with collective vengeance.

Also, did I mention that it is also 60F/16C? Not your best weather for watersports fun.

Then your clothes are wet… which brings me to the next point… It gets to like 45F/6C at night. You need more than just a jacket. You need a beanie, gloves, scarves, etc. Just hope those little buggers didn’t get them wet while you were running away from children all day.

Ultimately we started to get miserable.

Do I regret what we did? Well, partially but I rather would have experienced like we did rather than not at all.

So our suggestion? If you have the money, splurge. While we definitely couldn’t have been able to enjoy Carnaval any other way, it just wasn’t anything I imagined. It is definitely catered to people who have money, rather than a general celebration.

Have you tried to do Carnaval on a budget? What is Rio like?