Arriving in Potosi, the first taxi driver we asked refused to take us to the center of town because of a "Carnaval" which meant the traffic was terrible. The next one took us and traffic certainly was bad for such a small town. The narrow streets were packed with vehicles. The main square was blocked off completely.




It turns out that we had managed to blow into town during a cultural festival. We watched group after group dancing traditional dances, accompanied by flutes, drums, and/or the singing voices of the dancers.








The groups marched in a parade through the street then would stop in the square and perform in front of a canopy.










Then the procession would continue until the next group was in front of the canopy.

One interesting group was the miners and their families. We passed them in the street. Some where sitting on the pavement drinking while others stood in formation enjoying themselves as they waited for the procession to move on.




Going around the block, we saw the miner children in miners' coveralls and hardhats. They were dancing/marching to the sounds they made by hitting spikes with hammers.





Potosi Miner Kidīs Prade

They were followed by the older kids (apprentices probably), the wives and the miners.


Potosi Festival

Potosi is a mining town. Most of the industry in the town is mining or mine related (processing, transportation, handcrafts from mined metals). The celebration went on for hours, the dancers replaced by music groups into the early morning hours.