Fiesta del Gran Poder - La Paz, Bolivia

El Diablo - Fiesta del Gran Poder, La Paz Bolivia
All Photos by Sue DuMond

Alia and I traveled by midnight buscama (the more comfortable Bolivian touring bus) Friday night to La Paz. It cost 80 Bolivianos each one way, approx. $11 US. By full moonlight I was able to see the shadows and sillouttes of the mountains we journeyed through on our 8 hour voyage. We arrived La Paz at around 6:30 a.m. hiking our way up hills to a hotel. We had about 20 minutes rest before we hit the streets for the 8:30 startup time for the Fiesta del Gran Poder.

The Fiesta del Gran Poder is the biggest fiesta in La Paz and perhaps the biggest fiesta in all of Bolivia. It is a fairly recent fiesta from what I gather, starting about 50 years ago. It is a blend of Aymara (indigineous) and Christian cultures and consists of dancing fraternities coming together across Boliva. Dancers dance down the entrada which is about a 3 mile procession in the hot sun. They dance and sing continuously, followed by brass bands. The dancers and musicians don´t take breaks, though you will see people come up to each dancer and give them a drink of beer or water, and male dancers will lift their hot masks off for a breath of air. This was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life! It went on and on until nightfall. There seemed to be no end to the dancers or music. I read that there are approx. 25,000 dancers and that there is a full week of preperation before the Fiesta where the dancers drink and party for a week and must be taken care of by supporters. They also must commit to dance for 3 years and that it takes months and months of savings to pay for each costume and that each year the costume must change.


Aymara Women Dancers - Fiesta del Gran Poder, La Paz Bolivia


I was particualarly entranced by the women dancers. It was such an amazing site to see hundreds of women all dressed in the same billowing colorful dresses, with bowler hats covered with gold chains, swirling and twirling their skirts, singing, chanting and smiling and then finally clanking this instrument (I will find out the name) they turned in their hands. There were many different fraternities of women dancers, all wearing different colors to represent their individual group.


Aymara Women Dancers - Fiesta del Gran Poder, La Paz Bolivia


I will write a part 2 to this entry later.....Hasta Luego