The story
Pepinazo La Paz in La Paz
The Pepinazo is a mass costumed march through central La Paz in which thousands of people dress as El Pepino, the masked, bicolor-suited character considered the oldest symbol of the city's Carnival. Organized by the municipality and the Asociacion de Comparsas del Carnaval Paceno, recent editions have drawn more than three thousand participants asserting the character's La Paz origins. It is one of six core activities across the city's Carnival calendar, built for joining in rather than only watching.
El Pepino is one of the oldest characters in La Paz's Carnival, a masked figure in a bicolor, lace-trimmed suit whose roots in the city's street celebrations reach back to the nineteenth century.