Everybody was talking about the biggest carneval of Bolivia for a long time and of course we had to go to see it and feel it also. We made the four hours busride to Oruro on friday  to be ready to party on saturday. Luckily we had rented a house near the main arena. It was a little bit tight for 30 people, but with a good sense of humour we all could fit in. On friday the whole center served as a big marketplace seliing all kinds of products from masks to artificial snowsprays and waterballoons and of course booze and beer. Unfortunately I got sick in the evening and had to hit the sack very early, but after sleeping almost 12 hours I was fine the next morning.

On saturdaymorning we found our seats  near the mainsquare and started to watch the neverending parade. The first day of carneval was more official and lot of policemen were taking care of the dancers and the audiensce. In Oruro the people respect the dancers, but throw waterballoonds and spray artificial snow to eachother with no mercy. You can buy beer and other alcohol quite freely everywhere and of course it affects the people's behavior. Visitng the toilet was also an interesting experience. Luckily I took my earplugs to protect me from the infernal noise of the marching bands and fire wroks. At six o'clock we were tired enough to have a break what actually meant the end for me for that day because my fever rose again and I had to go to bed. The others watched the parade and partied till the small hours.

The next day I had to take back my losses and I decided to stay as everybody else left on Sunday, because we had the house until monday. I spent 14 hours watching the parade that I halfly missed on saturday. The same groups came again in the different order it was just less official and more relaxed. The dancers and musicians were drinking also and the audience could enter the streets more freely. In our stand were basically only local people because all the gringos were gone. People offered me drinks and I had some of my own too to keep me warm in the freezing Oruro. At 1 p.m I had to give up and go to bed eventhough the parade wasn't over yet, because I was so cold and tired. Next time I would come as a dancer to get the different point of view of the carneval.