La Virgen del Socavón, Oruro

Fellow travelers may have characterized Oruro as “sleepy” but they did not do it justice. They obviously were interested in the wrong kinds of tourism. The city has the largest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world – and it is 22 feet taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. It is also much less crowded, and there wasn’t fog the day I tried to visit. Who wouldn’t be excited by this.

The first day I was in Oruro I checked out of my hotel named after the Virgen del Socavón – and while I could see the entire plaza dedicated to her, a statue of her up several flights of stairs, the church and museum named after her, as well as the cable cars that would take me to her statue, the cable cars were only in operation a few days a week so I waited to visit all of these sites until a day when the cable cars were working.

Plaza – large cross and mural of the Virgen del Socavón visible in about the middle of the photo, cable car, cable car station, and bleachers over a parking lot where I assume one can see Carnaval processions

To the best of my knowledge, la Virgen del Socavón is a particular apparition of la Virgen de la Candelaria (Candlemas) revered by miners in the Oruro region. She has something to do with vanquishing the devil in conjunction with St Michael the Archangel, or at least that is what I gleaned from reading about the Diablada (part of the Carnaval celebrations) and this mural in the cable car station.

Images of St Michael and la Virgen del Socavón inside the cable car station, Oruro

Rituals that surround devotion to the Virgen del Socavón are examples of religious inculturation – according to one of the books I read there are elements of Uru (pre-Inca) and Inca religious figures in the stories that surround the Virgen del Socavón. The Virgen del Socavón is credited with saving the Uru people from four plagues – interestingly, all included in Exodus, and also all were supposed to take place before colonization (and therefore before Catholicism arrived in the Americas).

On a day I knew the cable cars were going to be in operation, I decided to visit all the sites dedicated to the Virgen del Socavón: the church, the museum, and the statue at the top of the hill. I started by trying to find the museum. I couldn’t see any doors open in the church but google is often wrong, so I continued walking around the area. I ended up walking up several flights of stairs to a smaller (but still impressive) statue to la Virgen del Socavón.

Painting of the Virgen del Socavón, about halfway up the stairs

I came back down the stairs, which is much easier than climbing up them when one is at altitude, and gave up on the museum. I decided to take the cable car up to the top of the hill and learn about the Virgen del Socavón. I bought my ticket which had a QR code that did not work, but fortunately there were staff around so they could see I had a recent unused ticket and let me through.

Once I arrived at the top of the hill, I wandered around and saw some breathtaking views (a theme in Bolivia) and tried to crouch down low enough to get a picture of the entire statue.

Virgen del Socavón, Oruro

Then, I went inside the museum. I tried to pay the 10 bolivianos entrance fee but the security guards had no change so they only charged me the Bolivian rate of 5. (Lack of change is a theme of my Bolivian experience, which was compounded by the fact that few places took credit cards and if I left what I would consider a modest tip because of the lack of change, in 95% of situations, people would try to give the money back to me). I was not that mad about this but I was frustrated to see several more flights of stairs after I had already climbed a bunch. I saw a floor of paintings of the Virgen del Socavón, a floor of photographs of the sanctuary, which had begun as a chapel, and, as I had read about in the archive in Sucre, became a church in the early 20th century. There was another floor dedicated to masks worn during Carnaval, and paintings of miners putting on their Carnaval costumes.

Painting in the museum inside the statue of the Virgen del Socavón, portraying Carnaval: a man dressed as St Michael the Archangel, a miner, and a man dressed as a diablada dancer

I did not stay very long because it smelled like cigarette smoke and when I left I saw a small gift shop where I bought two magazines and a book and some popcorn because I was hungry and that’s what there was in the store.

To round out my understanding of the Virgen del Socavón, I returned to the church dedicated to her – this time, when it was actually open (lots of places in Bolivia close over lunchtime, and it seems like some Catholic churches are accessible outside of masses if you walk through the office, but you have to know where the office is). I attended about 75% of Easter mass and really appreciated the beautiful sanctuary, which had images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the same clothes that miners wear, and in what looked to me like traditional clothing for Indigenous people in Bolivia’s highlands. Things were going well until the priest started talking about covid, and said that he knew that if he had died in the early part of the pandemic he would have accepted God’s will. I decided that the sermon was not going to get better after that.

I walked to the back of the church – a real benefit of attending mass in Latin America as a tourist is that lots of people come and go the entire time. Also, since I’m not Catholic I’m not going to participate in the Eucharist – but neither is about half the church.

Some of the tables with candles, chapel inside the church dedicated to the Virgen del Socavón, Oruro

I found a room full of images of the Virgen del Socavón and tables full of burning candles. The walls were covered with ex-votos or plaques that commemorate miracles the Virgen del Socavón had performed. There was also a (closed) door to the mine museum entrance and I will either leave that to a future visit – or never visit because it is very small and steep and I am interested in my head remaining attached to my body.

Museum entrance, church dedicated to the Virgen del Socavón, Oruro

Although it remains somewhat unclear to me how exactly this religious devotion started and it is obvious that the Virgen del Socavón is much beloved and the cable car ride made the whole trip worthwhile.

Mostly Catholic Religious Objects in Bolivia

A selection of mostly Catholic religious objects in Bolivia, to accompany the post about Brazil

Virgen del Carmen (patron saint of Bolivia), in an office building in Sucre, near where I bought a bus ticket.

Painting of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding, Archive of the Archdiocese of Sucre

Statue of Jesus, chapel, Castillo de la Glorieta, Sucre

Altar to Jesus inlaid in a building, Sucre

Virgen del Cerro, Casa de la Moneda Potosí

Virgen de Guadalupe, Potosí. Just when I thought I was figuring out which Virgen de Guadalupe was important, I realized I was wrong

Something for the Virgen del Carmen, Uyuni

Virgen del Carmen (?), train station, Uyuni

Home altars donated by people who migrated elsewhere, Iglesia San Miguel de Tomave, Salt Flats Tour

Many possibilities for acquiring images of the Virgen del Socavón, Oruro

Preparing for Semana Santa parade, Oruro

Jesus in the sand, Oruro

Holy Week in Oruro, Bolivia

My tour of the salt flats ended at around 6 pm and I headed to the Uyuni bus station to go to Oruro. I had heard about this city from one of my colleagues, who had lived there for several years, who encouraged me to go there, specifically because of my interest in religious rituals and mining. Oruro is primarily known for its Carnaval and it was “kind of boring” according to fellow travelers.

Paintings above a Desk in the Cultural Extension Office of the Universidad Técnica de Oruro, and Simón Patiño House Museum

The appropriate activity for Holy Week (the week before Easter) in many countries I have visited in Latin America is to go to the beach, but Bolivia has no beach, so I stayed in the mountains. Incidentally, I was in Uyuni while Bolivia was celebrating the Bolivian day of the sea, which commemorates military losses and loss of ports to Chile.

Posters commemorating Bolivian Day of the Sea in Uyuni

I arrived quite late and checked in to my hotel, named after la Virgen del Socavón (Our Lady of the Mine Entrance), which I had picked specifically because of the name. While it would have been interesting to visit Oruro during the miner’s Carnaval and festival to la Virgen del Socavón that takes place two weeks prior to Carnaval, or Carnaval itself, I was in Brazil and don’t have regrets about that.

On my second day in Oruro, I took care of some life administration like acquiring another month of data from Entel – Bolivian telecommunications company who I bought my SIM card from, and attempted to figure out my immigration status. According to some websites I had read, Canadians did not require visas for 90 day stays in Bolivia but did need a stamp to renew their presence in the country every thirty days. While I, as a person, do not believe in borders and think that people should be allowed to live where they choose, I, as a person, am not interested in breaking immigration laws of countries I would like to visit more than once (or even countries I’d like to visit once, honestly). I had gone to the migration office in Uyuni and was told that I did not need a stamp in my passport, but the man also didn’t seem to be able to use a computer so I decided I should go somewhere else for a second opinion. The second opinion confirmed that I did not need a stamp in my passport, and the office seemed much better staffed, and all the staff seemed to be able to use computers, which reassured me. There was also no line for foreigners – only Bolivians – which was problematic and very much in keeping with other experiences I’ve had in Latin America. I left and decided that someone would figure out my immigration situation at the airport when I left the country.

I checked into my airbnb – although I only planned to stay in Oruro for six more days, one of those days was Good Friday and one of those days was Easter Sunday, and I wanted to be in a place where I would be able to cook food in case most restaurants were closed those days. I was right in the city centre, which was great, and the internet only kind of worked very near the router, which was less great. The Airbnb also had carpets, which meant that it was much warmer than the train car I stayed in in Uyuni and the airbnb I stayed in in Potosí.

I visited several interesting sites, one of which was mining magnate Simón Patiño‘s Oruro home. He was the subject of very heavy books I bought on the last day I was in Sucre, and as an incredibly wealthy man, he had more than one home, several of which are now museums.

Although the tour of the museum focused on the architecture and furniture, which were less interesting to me, there were some really cool parts as well.

I saw a statue of the boy who discovered the tin that Patiño’s company would eventually mine – and the remnants of offerings to this statue from the beginning of Lent. According to my guide’s use of a nickname that I’m not going to be repeating the boy was likely Black. This would make sense given that the Spanish empire enslaved Africans in their mines, regardless of what all my tours told me about Black people dying in Bolivian mines, and today, that all Afro-Bolivians live in Bolivia’s lowlands.

I also saw the Patiño family’s private chapel, which included memorials to the Patiño family and to employees of the Universidad Técnica de Oruro, which runs the museum.

Family chapel, Museo Simón Patiño, Oruro

I saw camping equipment that Patiño (or more likely his employees) used to travel from cities like Oruro to his mines, and realized that camping is dodgy not just for its connections to white supremacy and military technology but also because of its connection to primarily resource extraction.

Camping chairs

After my visit, I saw some books on display, and tried to buy them, only to be directed to the author of some other books, so I bought those instead. The person who held the key to the cabinet with the books I was very interested in was “going to come back soon” but I never made it back to the museum – there were too many other interesting things to do.