Oruro

Oruro takes its name from the Uru people, who lived on the plateau and around its lakes long before the Spanish arrived. Around 1605 a priest, Francisco Medrano, and other Spaniards found rich silver deposits in a hill in the Uru country, and on 1 November 1606 a judge of the Audiencia of Charcas founded the Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria at the mining settlement beside the Pie de Gallo hill. By 1678 a census counted almost 76,000 inhabitants, which made it the second-largest city in Upper Peru.

The town has a proud record of rebellion. On 10 February 1781 its people rose against Spanish authority, an uprising remembered in the name of the main square, and in October 1810 it rose again in support of the patriots of Cochabamba. In 1789, by tradition, an image of the Virgin of Candelaria appeared in a hollow of the Pie de Gallo hill — the origin of the cult of the Virgen del Socavón, the Virgin of the Mine Tunnel. In 1851 the present Bolivian flag was raised for the first time at the Faro de Conchupata.

After silver faded, tin brought a second boom. By the 1890s the railway from Antofagasta reached the city, carrying ore to the Pacific, and Simón Patiño, whose family lived in Oruro until 1912, became one of the richest men in the world. The city has followed metal prices up and down ever since. In March 2020 it became the first city in Bolivia to enter quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Carnival of Oruro defines the city. Originally an Indigenous festival, it was transformed into a Christian pilgrimage in honour of the Virgen del Socavón, patroness of miners, and in 2001 UNESCO proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. More than 48 groups of dancers performing 18 different dances parade for hours through the streets to the sanctuary: the Diablada, the Morenada, the Caporales, the Tinku, the Kullawada, the Llamerada and many more, accompanied by bands.

The Diablada is the emblem. Its dancers wear horned devil masks and embroidered costumes, led by the Archangel Michael, and some scholars trace it to the Uru llama llama dance and to the miners' devotion to El Tío, lord of the underground; the first organised Diablada group with set music and choreography appeared in 1904. The costumes are made by the embroiderers of Calle La Paz.

Beyond Carnival, Oruro is a working city with a strong miners' identity, a mix of Quechua, Aymara and mestizo people, and long football traditions: Oruro Royal Club, founded in 1896, is considered the first football club in Bolivia, brought by workers on the Antofagasta railway. The Uru and Chipaya peoples of the department, whose culture is shown in the anthropological museum, are among the oldest communities of the Altiplano.

About 300,000 people lived in the municipality of Oruro at the 2024 census, making it Bolivia's fifth-largest city. It is the capital of Oruro Department and the seat of a Catholic diocese. Mining — tin, tungsten, silver and copper — has always set the city's fortunes, bringing cycles of boom and bust.

Trade has grown in importance. Oruro sits on the main highway between La Paz and the south and on the routes to the Chilean ports of Iquique and Arica, and goods move through it by road and by rail. The Technical University of Oruro, founded in 1892, brings thousands of students, and schools such as the Colegio Alemán, which marked its centenary in 2023, are part of the city's pride.

The days are shaped by the altitude and the cold. Mornings start early and chilly, with broths and hot drinks from stalls; afternoons can be sunny and still until the wind rises. Life slows at night. The national dollar and fuel shortages, rising prices and the blockades that cut the main roads in 2026 weigh heavily on a city that lives by transport and trade.

Oruro's cooking is built on the meat of the high plateau — lamb and llama — together with potatoes, chuño and quinoa. The dish the city claims as its own is charquekan, an ancestral dish of the Uru people built on charque, dried meat. Another favourite is chicharrón de llama, pieces of llama meat fried and served with chuño or phisara, boiled quinoa, potatoes and llajwa, the fresh tomato and chilli sauce found on every Bolivian table.

Orureño lamb is said to owe its flavour to the plants of the department, and it appears in a series of dishes served from midday into the afternoon: brazuelo (shoulder), costillar (ribs), mecheado, tostadita and colita de cordero, all with chuño, potato and salsa criolla. Morning broths called mañaneros warm people up on cold days, among them kunturi, made with llama meat, and t'impu de cordero. Rostro asado, a whole sheep's head baked in the oven, is another local speciality.

Llama chorizo is sold in sandwiches or on a plate with mote, boiled maize. Hot api made from purple corn, coca tea and Paceña beer are the everyday drinks.