There is a small village at the edge of the Andes, just before Peru becomes jungle, called Paucartambo. In this village they have a fiesta in the honour of... from what we could tell, barely controlled chaos. We were totally in the dark about what was happening here. Our "guide" was too busy paying attention to his girl friend to actually give us any information about the festival. It kind of made it more fun.
The focus was on dancers wearing nifty costumes wandering the streets at all hours, dancing to catchy but very repetitive tunes played on a variety of instruments. On the first night, they all converged on the main square, where they ran around the square jumping through flaming piles of hay while carrying lit fireworks. Occasionally kicking the flaming straw into the crowd. They had constructed these huge bamboo towers, which had home-made fireworks all over them, which they lit off. The dancers and the crowd got showered with a hail of sparks from these towering infernos. That was pretty spectacular. Nothing that happened here would have been allowed in Canada, which is too bad, because it was awesome. The only thing that I thought was over the top, were the cow constructions with roman candles in their horns. They carried the cows around the square shooting the fire-balls into the crowd. I was never burned, but I didn't escape unscathed. At one point a group ran by me yelling "Toro!" Then I felt a sharp pain in my leg as a guy in a bull costume rammed me. I don't know what part I played in their festival, I just hope the bruise on my leg contributes to virile year for the village bull.
One of my favorite things about Peru is the stuff you can get to drink on the side of the road. I sure like ponche, whatever it is. I have no clue what most of it was, you never really know what you are getting. I thought the incredible, fresh fruit juice stalls were the exception. Then the lady started pouring this thick black syrup into my papaya juice. The label had a picture of a Swartzeneggerian bodybuilder and a tree. I'm hoping it was some sort of plant extract, and not a body-building by-product.
mike, how are the binoculars working out?
Posted by: ab | July 26, 2004 at 06:25 AM