Oruro

Oruro - a place of carnival (at a certain time of year that was not when I went a couple of weeks ago, but signs of it were in posters, paintings and murals all over the town) and colourful markets lined with stalls selling charquekan (shredded fried llama meat - served here with cheese, maize and a boiled egg, eaten by hand) and delicious api (a purple and cream corn-based drink served with deep fried cheese pastries, a well tasty breakfast!)

Perhaps the most fascinating thing for me about Oruro is the clear interweaving of Catholicism and pre-colonial practices.   Diablo masks characteristic of carnival are painted alongside crosses and images of the Virgen Mary.

The other striking juxtaposition is religion with mining.  Like Potosí, Oruro is still an active mining town.  It somehow seems absurd to me that the conquistadors that instigated the harsh reality of mining that so exploited locals also brought along 'soul saving' Catholicism.  For some reason I imagine the locals asking themselves 'so what do these strangers offer us?  cruelty and catholicism.'  Since the abolition of slavery mining conditions have improved although they are still tough places to work.  And Catholicism it seems, has thrived.

Here on the right, a 3-tier slide where kids whizz down sat on dismantled cardboard boxes. :-)

 Casa Arte Taller - a home/art gallery I'd read about in the guide book.  Home to Gonzalo and Maria, both sculptors, and their family of daughters who are all artists in their own right, painters, sculptors and photographers.  The lovely Maria showed me around the home, a real Aladdin's cave of art, walls dripping with paintings, surfaces spilling with sculptures, ornaments and antiques.

Gonzalo's sculptures, heaving based in spheres, reference our connection with and responsibility to nature.  This figure offering up a sphere represents how all we have is loaned to us in life, and we need to be grateful of it and treasure it.  

  Maria's beautiful ceramics all revolve around Pachamama, Mother Earth.

Gonzalo kindly invited me to a local family ceremony that evening.  When I arrived to their family-neighbours home, I was surprised to see that it was a Catholic ceremony in the front room.  With a Jesus icon surrounded by gorgeous flowers, the ceremony felt very informal.  The priest leading the readings and prayers was dressed in normal clothes and ofter opened lighthearted discussions in the group. Folk came and went and  were even setting off handheld fireworks at the doorway throughout proceedings, while we were served hot peach drinks and spicy hot sandwiches.  Right at the end, after final prayers, we were offered cigarettes and coca leaves to chew and chatted into the early hours of the morning.  This was the most fascinatingly Bolivian part of the evening, and a clear example of the mixture of traditional custom with Catholicism. 

Brilliant! 

:-)