Oruro - City Information

Find Hotel reservations, tours, offers, attractions in Oruro, Bolivia! Oruro is the folkloric capital of Bolivia, home to the magnificent Carnival that has been declared a Cultural and Intangible Asset of Humankind.

Oruro is located about the same distance between La Paz and Sucre at approx. 3710 meters above sea level. It is the capital of the department of Oruro.

The Department of Oruro is located towards the west of Bolivia. To the North there is the Department of La Paz; to the South there is the Department of Potosi; to the East there are the Departments of Cochabamba and Potosi and to the West the Republic of Chile.

Oruro was named after the native tribe "Uru-Uru".

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oruro.

Extension: 53.588 km2.

Population: 390.477 inhabitants.

Language: Spanish, Quechua and Aymara.

The department of Oruro has 16 provinces and 119 cantons.

Oruro is not only the city of the Carnival. This corner of the highland, home of the miners who worship the Virgin of El Socavon and El Tio (The Uncle), the mythical absolute owner of the wealth of the underground, offers a series of discreet charms that make it attractive and welcoming, in spite of the freezing cold.

Oruro is the folkloric capital of the country, especially because of its magnificent Carnival that has been declared as "Cultural and Intangible Asset of Humankind". Aside from this fantastic religious-pagan festivity, which has the enormous and massive participation of bands of musicians and dancers who year after year perform in the streets of this great city, moved by their faith, there is the city itself, which during the time of the colony had immense wealth.

This department is surrounded by volcanoes, salt mines and flamencos. It is a place of many natural attractions, including the fabulous Bird Sanctuary of the Poopo Lake and the National Park of Sajama, which is considered to be the forest at the highest altitude in the world.

Oruro is the center of the railway system in Bolivia and has a strong mining tradition.

The people of Oruro still practice sacred andean traditions and rituals at special rock formations with names such as the "Condor", "Snake", "Crocodile" and the "Ants". These ceremonies are mixed with the christian beliefs brough by the spanish.

In Oruro we find important indigenous populations such as the Urus, Uru Muratos and Uru Chipayas.

Nature, inspite of the aridness of the region, has provided Oruro with abundant resources. Besides he rich mineral deposits there are other natural riches such as the thermal springs of Capachos (7 km.), Obrajes (20 km.) and Pazna (7 km.).

In Oruro there are also active volcanoes and special ecosytems like that of Lake Poopo, abundant with flamingos. There are deserts and great salt flats. The most important is that of Coipasa.

Another interesting fenomenon is Pumiri with huge and impressive rock formations over an area of 5 kilometers.

The city was first founded in 1606 as a silver-mining-center in the Urus region. At the time, it was named Real Villa de Don Felipe de Austria after the Spanish monarch Philip III. It was eventually abandoned as the mines became exhausted, but was reestablished in the late nineteenth century, this time as a tin-mining-center.

For a time, the La Salvadora tin-mine was the most important source of tin in the world. Gradually, this resource was also exhausted, and Oruro again went into a decline. The city does manage, however, to attract tourists to its carnival, the Carnaval de Oruro, considered one of the great folkloric events in South America for its masked "devil-dances".

By bus

From La Paz, Cochabamba, Sucre, Potosi, Arica and Iquique (Chile)

There are frequent daily buses from La Paz to Oruro (3 to 4 hours). Another way to come in, is from Cochabamba. Buses departs every 30 minutes. The trip takes between 4 to 5 hours.

By train

From Potosi, La Paz, Cochabamba and Uyuni.

By plane

The city counts with a small airport mostly used by private airplanes.

Festivals:

Fiesta de San Sebastian: 20th January
Aniversary of the Departament: 10th February
Carnival: (variable) February/ March
Fiesta de San Jose: 19th March
Fiesta de la Cruz: 3rd May
Fiesta de San Pedro: 29th June
Virgen del Carmen: 16th July
La Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz: 14th September
Fiesta del Rosario: 4rd October

Gastronomy:

Charquekan: Dish prepared with charque (dry cow or llama meat), boiled eggs, onion and tomato sauce, yellow pepper.

El Intendente: Dish that contains cow's or lamb's insides, such as heart, guts, lungs, kidneys and testicles. It is served with chuno (dehydrated potato) and potato.

Ranga Ranga: Dish prepared with ranga (cow's stomach), yellow pepper, potato and chuno.