Oruro

Socavón hill, mine shaft and folklore masks in a day

Start at Plaza 10 de Febrero in the morning, when the sun first takes the chill off the square. Walk west and uphill to the Santuario del Virgen del Socavón, the church where the carnival parade ends and where the miners' Virgin is kept. Below it, a small mining museum leads into old galleries and explains the tin and silver trade that made Oruro.

After lunch in the centre, take a taxi south to the museum of ethnography and folklore near the zoo. Its collection of carnival costumes and masks gives a close look at the devils, condors and morenos you would otherwise only glimpse in a crowd, and it covers the Chipaya people of the western plain. The zoo nearby keeps Andean species.

In the late afternoon climb to the Faro de Conchupata for the view across the town and the lake-dotted Altiplano, or head to El Cerrato with its statue of the Corazón de Jesús. Finish back on Avenida 6 de Agosto and, if the timetable fits, watch the southbound train run down the middle of the avenue.

Altiplano comfort food in a mining town

Oruro eats like a mining town: big, warming and early. Food stalls and simple diners near the market and around the bus terminal serve fried chicken and chips all day, and a set lunch (almuerzo) of soup and a main is the standard midday meal across Bolivia.

The local speciality to look for is rostro asado, roasted sheep's head, served in a few traditional places, especially around carnival. Charquekan, dried llama meat with corn, potatoes and cheese, is the other dish linked with the city. In the evening, the streets off Bolívar near the main plaza hold pizzerias and cafés, and there is a long-running vegetarian restaurant, Govinda, on 6 de Octubre.

During carnival, street vendors line the route with snacks, hot drinks and api, the purple corn drink, which helps on cold nights. Restaurants close earlier than in La Paz, so eat by about nine.

Carnival before Lent and the cold dry months

The Oruro Carnival takes place on the days before Ash Wednesday, so it falls anywhere between early February and early March. The great entrada on Saturday sends dance groups the length of the route to the Socavón in honour of the Virgen de la Candelaria, and UNESCO lists it as intangible heritage.

The weather is a mix of extremes. Daytime highs stay between 16 and 21C all year, but lows swing from about 5C in summer to about -6C in June and July. Most rain arrives between December and March, with roughly 137 mm in January and 138 mm in February, so carnival-goers should carry a waterproof as well as a warm layer. May to August is almost dry, sunny and sharply cold, and September to November brings the best balance of sun and warmth.

For day trips, Cala Cala, around 45 minutes away, has rock art and the Señor de Lagunas church, and vans run towards Sajama National Park, home to Nevado Sajama, Bolivia's highest peak, in about three hours.