Oruro

One of Bolivia’s nine provincial capitals, Oruro is as authentic as Bolivian towns get. Its population is 90% indigenous; they are business owners, hardworking miners, students, street vendors and families. It was here that current president, Evo Morales, attended colegio, or high school, and where the legendary tin-miner, Simón Patiño, earned his claim as one of the world’s wealthiest men. Some say that Oruro is a present-day display of faded glory, but that is to discredit is cultural strides, numerous museums, the famous Carnaval celebrations and much more.

It’s true that Oruro was once a thriving mining town, so rich in natural minerals that at one point it was considered the world’s most productive tin source. However, in the early 1950s the abundance of tin exportation and inequality in wealth distribution brought about a public outcry for the nationalization of the mines. The labor uprisings that came and ultimate creation of the Corporación Minera de Bolivia did not last more than 30 years, as the Oruro mining district essentially shut down in the 1980s due to disappointing government inefficiency.

Present-day Oruro may not boast much tin-production, but its pre-Lent celebration of Carnaval makes it a destination for nationals and internationals alike (if only for one weekend a year...). Elaborate costumes and decadent celebrations are such a juxtaposition to the normal every day life of orueños, who host a food and goods market down the center of their main avenue and whose normal tourism is no more than backpackers looking for the starting point of Bolivia’s train line. Aside from the train, Oruro is host to a bustling bus station, the spot where Bolivia’s flag was first raised, a cultural music and dance heritage and a vibrant adolescent community that seem to run the nightlife.

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Other places nearby Oruro: Uyuni, Salar de Uyuni and Southwestern Lakes, Villazón, Tarija, Tupiza, Bermejo, Reserva Nacional de Flora y Fauna Tariquia, Reserva Biologica Cordillera de Sama and San Vicente.