INSIDE The WORLD's Greatest Carnival You’ve Never Heard Of
It's the big day. I'm excited for this one. After years of wanting to come here, after years of hearing about the legendary carnival of Oruro, we have finally made it further down the road here Is the parade going on. We're going to have a big day. Lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of good times. Nobody does a carnival like the Bolivians.
This is officially the second biggest carnival in South America or in the world. After the famous carnival in Rio, the Bolivians claim it's the best carnival. We're going to be the judge of that today.
Let's get stuck into it. This is definitely the wildest thing I've ever eaten. Oh, my God, look at this.
That is literally brain. It's absolutely stunning. This is Oruro! This is just the beginning. This is a small group starting off the day here in the morning. It's about eleven o'clock. Now,
the plan for us today is basically to follow these guys. They're going all the way around here up the mountain to that virgin statue over there. We're gonna try and go all the way along the road, all day, all night. We don't know how long it's gonna go for. I've heard it goes until four, five. Six in the morning. I don't know how long we're gonna stay, but first off, before we get started, we have found the restaurant.
It's down here, you can see. There are some people queuing up down there. That's the restaurant. We're going to the restaurant. We went into last Saturday at the opening parade of the carnival. That is where we can find the famous roasted lamb head.
But they're only opening in about half an hour. So we'll stand here on the bridge taking in the parade for a second, and I'll see you in the restaurant. This is what we're working with.
We have literally got half a face of a, not a cow, a lamb. Check it out. We've got the eye there.
Let's get a fork here. Got the eye here. Got some meat on the outside.
Basically the cheeks of this face. And let's turn it around on the inside. We have got I don't know what it really is.
It looks like it might be the brain of the lamb here. And what do we have over here? Some sort of, like, half of the tongue or something, some parts of the brain furthermore. What do we have, Chuño: The famous dark potato. We've got some kind of thing that looks like a mushroom. I know. This is the inside. Look at that.
Got the teeth there. Can you see that? Oh, my God. This is wild. Yeah, this is the tongue. I think so,
this has to be the tongue here. Like that. That would be the tongue right there. Oh, my God. Check that out. With some chili, with. Some chuño, with some potatoes, without further ado.
I guess there's nothing else to say. Then this has to be the wildest thing that I've ever tried. So where are we going to start? I think we got to start with the safest choice here. The cheek. That looks like the tastiest.
The most tasty part of it. Check it out there. That is very, very good. That is soft and tender like a normal piece of lamb meat.
Now, let's adventure into the insides here. What do we have here? Let's try. This part has to be the brain.
Oh, my God. Look at this. Look at that. Can you see this? That is literal brain. Oh, my God. Okay, wish me luck.
Oh, that is super weird texture. It feels like an overripe cream, something like that. Oh, my God. That's not good. So this is basically the upper side of the mouth of the sheep. It basically looks a little like a sardine. That's what it looks like.
Can you see that? It basically looks like a sardine. A Portuguese sardine. What's the taste also? Not particularly impressive. I don't know who came up with this idea. What are they thinking? This is definitely the wildest thing that I've ever eaten. The very best part is the face here, the outside, the cheek. That is the best part.
The only thing that's actually half decent is the brain on the inside. That is the most disgusting thing that I've ever eaten, I think. Then the tongue and this sort of inside of the nose there just feels and tastes in texture and taste feels like an overcooked piece of seafood.
I think this is going to take a lot of Llajua. Bolivia's best spicy sauce. South America's best spicy sauce to get through this. Wish me luck. See you on the outside, that has to be up there with some of the worst food that I have ever eaten.
Also some of the most interesting food I've ever eaten. Now, we've come back outside. As you can see, people are in the streets here.
We're headed towards. Very good. You very good. You're from here, Beer? Yes,I'll buy one Ok, this guy here seems to be in a good mood. He seems to be up for a beer. Oh, thank you.
That's just what I needed. He gave me a beer there. That's exactly what I was going to look for, because I'm on my way. Now we're gonna head up to that Virgin statue, the religious statue, and we're gonna see that's where the parade ends today. That's where everybody ends up. That's the destination for the parade, for everybody who's out here walking and parading.
Let's get our beer open here. Give some to Pachamama Like this right? Yes On the parade. Right now. They've got some small, beautiful costume versions of this dance that we call 'morenada' here in Bolivia. This is how they keep the culture passing on from grandparents to parents, to little kids, to their daughters, to their sons, how they keep the culture going.
Look at that mask over there. Oh, my God. And look here, this absolutely fantastic costume over here. Check that out. It's starting to rain now, unfortunately, absolutely What a beautiful costume Thank you Is this Morenada or Diablada? Moranada Absolutely wonderful costumes.
So here we have, I think this is the main square that we were at, where we started the video last week. And here come the grandmothers. So that is literally the whole generation. We've got the grandmothers here. Very beautiful. So we had the whole show from the family, from the kids.
How beautiful! You're very beautiful! Where are you from? I'm from Denmark Greetings to Denmark from Cocani, Bolivia What a lovely woman there. Now, check these girls out with their masks. Check these girls out here. What beautiful, beautiful costumes there. What a beautiful tradition like a costume. How long does it take to prepare? Almost a year A year to practice dancing? Yes How beautiful.
Thank you Is this your first time dancing? No, I've been dancing for five years. Five years. Now, here we have some of those guys moving more, dancing more. Check that out. What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful costume with the little pipes there.
Can you imagine walking down the street here at night one day and it's all dark. You would get well scared. Check this man out. Beautiful. And here are some more girls.
The costumes here are absolutely fantastic. We've seen some costumes here in Bolivia before in all different types of carnivals and "entradas". Look at these guys here. Check out. How big the band is here. How are you? This is beautiful.
This is stunning. This is proper, proper carnival culture. Check it out here again. More beautiful, beautiful, beautiful costumes. What a beautiful costume you have Thank you very much. How many years have you been dancing? Practically 20 years.
20 years. How pretty. Thank you very much. And we really appreciate everyone who is watching us from abroad and we take the opportunity to invite you to experience this magic that you are living now, because this is magic, the majesty it has. In our carnival, you will only be able to see it in this place, in Oruro, Bolivia. For you, is this carnival the best in the world? Of course, yes, no, for many reasons, because we have tradition, we have culture, we have devotion to the Mamita del Socavón and many other things to show you.
There's history involved. So I think we are definitely the best carnival in the world. More than Rio's? Of course, because each costume has a meaning. If you look at the costume that the machachis show, it's pure silver, it's pure silver. And look, if you notice, it has the engraving of the Virgin. The engraving of the Virgin is a very, very detailed and meticulous work.
How many years does it take to make a costume like his? Well, it takes months, not years, but it's quite time-consuming. Does he use the same one every year? No, they change, they change, every year they change. And yours? Likewise, this year I'm debuting it, this dress. Okay. Very beautiful dress. Thank you very much. Same to you. Thanks.
As I said beautiful, beautiful cuture here No one does Carnival like the Bolivians From old women to the youth, to the younger women, The lady before said she had been dancing for twenty years, she looked like she would be twenty-five, thirty, maximum thirty-five. She looked fantastic. All of them look fantastic. Check it out. The costumes here are next level. Oh, my God. Look at this guy.
What a beautiful costume. A costume for our centenary. The central morenada Oruro of the Cocanis is turning 100 years old. We are a centenary fraternity. All of these guys are from the same one, the one we talked about.
They are all from Cocani? This entire fraternity. We are four bands, we are more than 500 dancers. The central morenada, as I tell you, Oruro, founded by the Cocani community, today is entering to the feet of the Mamita del Socavón. Also celebrating our centenary as an institution and the bicentennial of Bolivia. 100 years dancing.
The fraternity founded on November 29, 1924. Wow. So this fraternity has more than 500 dancers. Is what he's saying there they've been dancing for one hundred years, now going forever more than five hundred. From kids to grandmothers to women.
From twenty to thirty to fifty to sixty years old, both men and women. It is absolutely stunning. Check it out.
Central Morenada Fraternity founded by the Cocani community in the bicentennial of Bolivia. Very good. Long live Bolivia. Long live Bolivia. It must be so tiring to dance in those costumes all day long.
But it is absolutely beautiful. Hello. How are you? All good. How many years have you been dancing? We've been dancing in the morenada for 15 years. 15 years. How many dancers does your fraternity have? We must have a few thousand. Thousands are still from Cocani.
Cocani. Wow. Thousands and thousands of dancers.
Rain jackets as well. Not only are they fraternities, dancing fraternities. They have this "Bolivia awaits you" basically from the Bolivian tourism unit. How are you? Cheers, mate. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
Where are you from? Where you from? You're from? Yeah. You come to the carnival every year in then? Every year. Every year, yeah. Is it true that this carnival is better than the one in Rio? It's the best carnival in the world. The best carnival in the world. What's your name? Cheers. Cheers. Jesus. Jesus.
Yeah. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Team Jesus.
Yeah. Cheers to Jesus. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers to Denmark.
Yeah. Our mate from Denmark. Cheers. There we go. Check it out. We got the purple edition. I'm gonna park away the camera for now. Let the rain pass.
Use my rain protection. Poncho type thing here. My rain poncho here. And then I'm gonna try and head up to that virgin statue further up there and try to talk to them. Imagine thousands, five hundred, one thousand, maybe two thousand dancers.
No one even knows how many they are in the same group. It is absolutely stunning. So this here is the church in question that we have over here.
Check it out. I think it's the same group again coming in this Cocani group dancing here, coming over across this painting. That I guess it's the virgin to which this whole carnival is devoted. And they are heading in, as you see, up the stairs of the Church here. That's where we're gonna head now. Try and see if we can talk to any of them.
Check out the bands over there. Imagine how beautiful this is gonna be at night. Check this guy out here. Check out their boots.
By the way, Absolutely beautiful. Beautiful boots. Super tall boots. Let's go into the church and see how things actually go down in here. Tradition, I know, from Chutillos in Potosí is that they go into the church on their knees, all of them, both men and women, sort of crawling into the church in honor of the patron saints or the Virgin that they're celebrating here. They're all on their knees, crawling in, devoting themselves to the Virgin.
And we have the pastor here, the priest preaching. They'll walk all the way around the altar there up to the Virgin, which is sitting up here at the end, up there with all the flowers, beautifully decorated, as you see up there. This is the Virgin, as you can see. They're coming in on their knees, devoted, looking at the Virgin. Some of them are really emotional, crying and praying to the Virgin. This is what the whole celebration, what the whole carnival is about.
And then they come to the end of the stairs here, they get up and as you see over there, they're walking out of the Church, still facing the Virgin over there behind us. I don't know what the ritual is, what the reason is for them to walk backwards, outwards, outside of the Church or out the Church. But we will surely ask them about that. Why are you taking the flower? We are making a wish to become mothers. To become mothers? For what purpose? So that I can ask her. The Virgin for a child to become a mom.
For that, women carry a floor. Thank you. So outside the church here we have all the people now, they have finished up dancing, they finished their whole ceremony. And here's the food section, a massive food section for everybody. People are drinking,
people are eating. I can imagine they're exhausted after a whole day. Where is this suit from? The East? Yes, from Bolivia. Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz, Beni Pando, all that eastern region. Because the style is more indian. Exactly. It's because of the heat. For example, we Chunchos come more or less from the valley side, from the eastern side of La Paz.
There's a part that arrives the same. What's the ritual with walking out backwards from the church? Oh, you have to only look when you go inside the church and when you go out of the church. You have to show your face when you go out. This is a this is a Bible thing from the ancient Bible.
The five books of Moses. Showing your face to the Virgin. Yeah.
This is the way to go out of a temple or a church. You always go out backwards. You never go out with your back turned. Never go out too far. It has nothing to do with tradition. It's a Bible thing. The carnival is a mix between indigenous culture and biblical religion.
Yeah. Actually, Tobas is closer to the biblical tradition. You have witities, wakawakas, and other things that lean more towards Inca culture. Aymara, Guani, and Quechua people. There you will find more of what existed before Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. Llama anticucho.
So the ladies here have served us a portion of llama. Anticucho. So, Anticucho. We tried before a couple of times. It is normally cow's heart, but now it is llama heart. Let's give it a go here.
Good piece dipped in peanut sauce. That's good. That's a very good. Very good marinade From your grandma. So this is the lady here, the grandma, the abuela. Yeah, Yes. Her daughters.
Here in Oruro, there's a lot of llama. There's llama meat. Well, also cow heart. Normally it's cow's heart. Yes But Llama meat is healthier What a lovely lady there just looking. She'd seen the videos and she wanted to invite me to some llama anticucho.
How much for the beer? Paceña 10 ($.87) Huari 2 for 25 ($2.19) A Paceña, please. Let's get ourselves a beer. I am absolutely thirsty here.
Yes, I was saying she wanted to invite me to some of her food. As she was explaining, they originally started this place from her grandma who used to make this llama anticucho in the city center here in Oruro. How you doing so? Her grandma had started this little stand with llama anticucho. I forgot how many years ago by now, but yes, you can imagine from her grandma, so it must have been fifty or sixty years ago.
And now the daughters run it. Are you now the daughters run it still? Now, we basically showed you what the whole gist of the carnival is about. Why they're celebrating it, what the whole walk is about and what's at the end. Now, all that's left is to enjoy the evening.
You walk the whole carnival just to enjoy the evening. Have some beers, look at the dances, enjoy the atmosphere, look at the costumes. And literally, just have a fantastic time.
All right, nightfall has fallen so to say. And the party is on. This is when the proper parade is going on.
We've met up with a bunch of friends. They're all spraying our shirts together with all this foam in the evening. It is no longer just for the kids. Bloody hell. We are absolutely sprayed. How are you? How are you? How is your night? Good night.
Very good. We are getting absolutely smashed here. We met up with some of our friends. We're standing further out this way. Hello, how are you?
And we're standing further this way. I kind of lost track at this point, but the party here at night is another level. The party here at night, it's another level. Check out the costumes that we have going on over here.
God-like leopard skin. This is obviously sort of fake at this point, but what used to be real Puma skins. Oh, my God. We are getting absolutely hammered by this bloody hell. We're getting absolutely hammered by this, so how are you bloody hell I barely know if you could see me at this point.
People out having great fun. I'm going to turn around and try and get back as dry as possible to where my friends are and show you this beautiful costume that we got going on here. How are you? You have a good night. You have fun.
Lots of fun. Tonight For me it's Caporales, San Simon Those who look like Dragon Ball Okay. Yeah. At night, all the different dances come out. Check out these guys. Tobas. Yeah, yeah.
We saw them earlier as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tobas is from the south of Bolivia. Chaco right? Yes Chaco. Yeah, I love Tobas What's your favorite dance? I love Tobas. The best dance?
The best dance. Okay. I'm gonna join my friends. We're gonna dance. We're gonna have a party.
I already had a few beers as you can probably tell. Check out how they're looking here. Tobas is the name of the dance, the name of the dress. It is absolutely stunning. Now, basically, the aim for the rest of the night is to see as many dances, as many costumes as we humanly possibly can drink. As many beers, dance as much, have as much fun as possible.
Let's get stuck into the last part of the carnival. The funniest part of the carnival. Check out these costumes.
We're getting told. How to dance here How many years have you been dancing? It's my second year. And do you like it? It's very fun.
For you, is this carnival better than Rio's? Of course. The best carnival in the world. How many hours have you been dancing today? Oh, almost three. Almost three, almost 3 hours.
How many hours left? 2 more hours. Don't you get tired? No What's your source of energy? The devotion to the Virgin Ten o'clock. At night, we have the little kids getting told the history, the culture of their country. This is wonderful. This is how we pass the culture on from one generation to the next.
This is Bolivia. This is Carnival. This is how we do Carnival in a proper style. Rio You have nothing on us Camera.
I'm making a video Thank you This is what it's all about. People are dancing here in the middle, raising the atmosphere, on the side. This is where we're standing over here. These guys are our friends.
On the right-hand side, we're going to teach the kids. of Bolivia how to dance. They're proper dances here in the carnivals of Oruro.
Long live Bolivia Long live the Carnival of Oruro The best Carnival of the world Better than the one in Rio? Much better Greetings to the Gringos from Bolivia This is Oruro! This is where you gotta come For a proper carnival You gotta come to Bolivia Kiss to the world Most of the dances here seem to be from Bolivia, from, sorry, from Oruro local In this beautiful culture here Here we have a whole car. All these things you see on top of it are real silver dishes, silver flags, silver emblems. This little face that we see here is the face of Potosí. This is how we announce the next group coming in. This one is the Diablada Ferroviaria. The devil's dance Basically, this is one of the top dances that all Bolivian carnivals have to offer.
If you've ever seen an intimidating march of a group coming against you on the road, check this out and reconsider what is the most intimidating thing you've ever seen walking into your face. Absolutely stunning. Check them out here. This is so different from any carnival you'll see anywhere in the world.
Now get yourselves ready for the absolute highlights or parts of the highlight here. Here come some of the best costumes that you will see in the whole carnival anywhere in the world, particularly here. Check out the detail. Here we go. This is the best dance of the entire carnival. Check it out here.
These guys, this is called Tinku, the real-world version of this dance here they fight in their little villages. They fight village against village until only one man is standing. Let's go here. Check them out. They are dancing like absolute madmen. It is wonderful.
Absolutely fantastic. This is how you dance when you want to have the best dance in all of Bolivia. Absolutely fantastic.
I think in the middle of the band here, that is pretty much the me signing of for the night, there's not going to be much more to show you. This is all what carnival in Bolivia is about. Come here for your best carnival in the world. I have not yet been to Rio.
We'll go there next year. But Rio has to live up to some pretty high standards. Leave this atmosphere. Check out this atmosphere.
I'm signing off. See you in the next video.
2025-03-14 16:13
