Puno / La Festival de la Virgen de Candelaria

Lima was a big sprawling dirty grey city with a frenetic energy. It was sensory overload on a large scale, especially the noise. Now after a mere three days, I am used to it to some degree and enjoy the sights, smells, places and some of the sounds. It is still way too loud and cacophonic for me especially at night as it seems there are throngs of people out in the street all night alongwith traffic sounds and incesant honking.

I spent the first day in Lima taking taxis everywhere. Taxis make up 1/2 to 3/4´s of all the trafic on the street and most of the rest are busses. There are one or two taxi companies and the rest come in all colors and degrees of repair and disrepair. Aparently anyone who has the ability to purchase a vehicle also owns a taxi sign for the top of his car and is at least a part time taxi driver. I can imagine them driving home from work and the first thing they do is put the taxi sign on top of the car to see if they can make a little extra change on the way home. Sometimes they will get to the general area and then pull over and ask directions.

There don´t seem top be any rules of the road for taxis. They fly down the road ignoring stop signs, sipping in and out of lanes and squeezing in anywhere they can get a nose ahead. In fact, for most of the first day, it seemed like we were playing a high speed game of chicken. It seemed amazing to me that we never had a fender bender or even clipped another taxi, bus or car. At first I could not figure out how they could tell who won the game of chicken and when to back off or when to punch the gas. I finally figured they must have some rule of thumb to follow which must be whoever got their nose in far enough first was the winner and the other backed off.

I met two guys named Kam and Prince from the United Kingdom while waiting in line to board our plane in Lima. Kam is a stockbroker and Prince is in the Royal Air Force. We flew into Juliaca which is the closest airport to Puno them took a taxi to Puno together. Puno is on the banks of Lake Titicaca and will be my base of operations for exploring the Lake and celebrating La Virgen de la Candelaria Festival which starts today.

Puno is often said to be the folklore capital of Peru and boasts as many as 300 traditional dances and celebrates many fiestas throughout the year of which, Festival de La Virgen de la Candelaria, is touted as the most spectacular. We got to Puno about 4 PM and went right to the festival which was in full swing.

For 18 days, the highland town of Puno, nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 12,500 ft. above sea level, becomes the Folk Capital of the Americas.

The festival gathers more than 200 groups of musicians and dancers to celebrate the Mamacha Candelaria. For the first nine days, the mayordomos (those in charge of organizing the festivities), decorate the church and pay for Mass, banquets and fireworks displays.

On the main day, February 2, the virgin is led through the city in a colorful procession comprising priests, altar boys, the faithful, Christians and pagans carefully maintaining the hierarchy. This is the moment when the troupes of musicians and dancers take the scene, performing and dancing throughout the city. The festival is linked to the pre-Hispanic agricultural cycles of sowing and harvesting, as well as mining activities in the region. It is the result of a blend of respectful Aymara gaiety and ancestral Quechua seriousness.

The dance of the demons, or diablada, the main dance of the festival, was allegedly dreamed up by a group of miners trapped down a mine who, in their desperation, resigned their souls to the Virgen de la Candelaria. As part of the mining ceremony they spread many colored minerals along the raod and make them into all kinds of designs. The dancers, blowing zampoña pan-pipes and clad in spectacular costumes and outlandish

masks, make their offerings to the earth goddess Pachamama.

The most impressive masks, for their terrifying aspect, are those of the deer fitted with long twisted horns similar to the Devil, and Jacancho, the god of minerals.

During the farewell, or cacharpari, the dancers who fill the streets finally head to the cemetery to render homage to the dead.

Kam and Prince met two Japanese women at their Hostel and they came along to the festivities. We were all feeling the effects of the altitude. Flying from sea level in Lima straight to 12,500 ft above sea level is a huge change. I had some altitude sickness pills that I forgot about taking until I got there. Mainly you feel dizzy, disoriented, weak, and have a hard time breathing. While we were at the festival, Chie felt very faint so I had her sit down and got her some water. Prince went to a drug store near by and found some altitude pills for her and himself because he was feeling the effects rather strongly too. When it started getting dark we decided to go out to eat.

Erico, Prince, Me, Kam, Chie

We all ended up ordering Alpaca. Two pizzas, two steaks, and a sauteed dish.

My Alpaca Steak with Pisco Sauce

Alpaca Pizza

Alpaca Saltada

I am staying at Hostel Maria Angola Inn a little away from the center of town as I figured it may get noisy with the fiesta. It has a lot of beautiful wood carving everywhere. The bed was nice and firm and they had 3 heavy Alpaca wool blankets on the bed which I ended up needing as it was very cold. I guess the festival got over about midnight on the plaza then at least part of the party came to near my hostel and they partied all night long.

My room at Hotel Marie Angola Inn Puno