Carnaval: Cochabamba, Part II

Chacarera

The third carnaval event I attended was last Saturday’s Corso de Corsos in Cochabamba. I joined my workmates at a restaurant on the Prado where we drank a lot and ate excessive amounts of Salteñas. A lot of the dancing was similar to Oruro but the Corso had much more Caporales and Chacarera groups, as well as a strange army-in-drag section. No really, the army (and navy!) dressed in drag and danced.



The Army Cholitas & Tarqueadas (I think)













Caporales &


Diablada












Puppeteers, & Manfred masks













In the military groups, there was a little political commentary. A group of very Uncle Sam-red-white-and-blue puppeteers on stilts pulled the strings of some short ragtag Pinocchio looking fellows. There was also a group wearing huge Manfred (the state governor) masks.



While the bands were less impressive than in Oruro, I did enjoy the much diminished quantity of espuma and water balloons. I was sitting behind a row of small children, whom acted as a shield against the water balloons and also absorbed most of the espuma. It was really fun to be at a big parade with kids and a much different experience than being in the stands in Oruro.



No really, there was much less espuma than in Oruro.






The Dances

Caporales












Diablada























Tinku









Some Video of Tinku






Llamerada



The llamerada groups in Oruro were often proceeded by cars laden with silver plates and ornaments. The dancers twirl slingshots in their hands as they whirl around. Often they carry little llamas in their hands, some of the llama dolls wore little ponchos to protect them from the espuma




.

Chacarera


This dance is beautiful and the guys boots get an intense workout – they hop around a lot and dance on the ankles of the boots.






Morenada

There was an excessive amount of Morenada in Oruro, so much that I got pretty bored with it. As far as I can tell there are 3 groups: the guys where huge, heavy outfits and have a very limited dance, the señoritas wear incredibly short skirts and go-go boots and shake their hips and shimmy their shoulders, and the señoras (some in old hag masks) wear a lot more clothes but have an equally unenergetic dance.