Dancers wait all year to celebrate Carnival in Oruro

Americas Now

It’s a two thousand year-old event in Bolivia with extravagant costumes and dances that haven’t changed in centuries.

The town of Oruro, high in the mountains of Bolivia, was an important mining area more than 200 years ago.

Today, it’s a city best known for its Carnival which brings together tens of thousands of dancers and an even greater number of spectators along the three-kilometer-long parade every year.

It combines indigenous Andean beliefs and Christianity to create a unique festival of color and music.

The Carnival of Oruro is our Urban Voice.