Quillacollo

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Quillacollo
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image_caption = The main street in the city named "Calle Heroes del Chaco"


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pushpin_map_caption =Location in Bolivia
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subdivision_name1 = Cochabamba Department
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subdivision_name2 = Quillacollo Province
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population_total =125,000
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Quillacollo is the capital of Quillacollo Province, Bolivia.

Population and growth

The city of Quillacollo is located 13 km (8 miles) westward of Cochabamba City. Quillacollo's population is 104,206 based on the 2001 census and is estimated to reach 125,000 in 2006. The increase in population makes Quillacollo the second fastest growing city in Bolivia after El Alto in La Paz.

Quillacollo City is one of the various provincial capitals around Cochabamba City, which are increasingly swallowed by the extending perimeter of "greater" Cochabamba (city).

Quillacollo is linked to the city of Cochabamba through the Avenida Blanco Galindo, a particularly busy stretch on the main national highway. Quillacollo is mostly a market town with a sizable agricultural hinterland, but also hosts some relevant industry and a district court which supports a relevant population of lawyers.

Festivals

The "Virgen de Urkupiña" festival is annually held in August. It is officially dubbed the "Festival of National Integration" and sees a host of different activities, ranging from an extended folkloric spectacle, over a central Mass, generally attended by the Bolivian president and other authorities, to a huge popular pilgrimage in the course of which people profess their Catholic faith, but also engage in rituals which are commonly seen as standing in an uneasy relationship with Catholic orthodoxy at best, or being outright pagan. People pray and offer promises to the Virgin of Urkupiña for money, health and luck. People greet "pachamama" (mother earth) with alcohol and food, burying or spilling it on the floor. A curious rite held on this festivity is extracting rocks from a hill near the sanctuary of the Virgin, whether the rock is big or small, it has to be taken home with the people who cracked the rocky hill to get it, who must return it the next year, as a symbolic act to ask the Virgin to lend them something (like health, money, luck etc.).

The Urkupiña festival is annually attended by hundreds of thousands of faithful and national and international tourists, and it is one of the biggest events of popular religiosity in South America. Stretched out in preparations and aftermath over the entire month of August, the central days of the Urkupiña festival are August 14 to 16. Urkupiña has spawned a variety of offshoots in other parts of the world, such as Argentina, Virginia (USA), Spain, and Sweden, and wherever a sufficient number of followers of the Marian advocation of Quillacollo dwell.

The city

The architecture of the city has a post-colonial blend. Contemporary architecture is shown in modern houses and buildings.

Gastronomy in the city is varied. Several restaurants are found in the city's streets. The city also offers electronic artifacts cheaper than in Cochabamba.

One of Quillacollo's main economic resources is tourism. Quillacollo has hotels and hostals to stay. The flea markets and informal commerce abound in the city especially during the festivities. Sunday is market day.

External links

* [http://www.affvu.org Asociación de Fraternidades Folklóricas "Virgen de Urqupiña" (Association of the Folkloric Groups of the Urqupiña Festival, in Spanish)]