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Published: September 29th 2007
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WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
This lady is cooking lots of guinea pigs otherwise known as cuy. On arriving in Huaraz I had to organise the trek up in the mountains. The day that I went to do that I was invited along by one of the guides to come for a short walk in the nearby hills with some of the people that would be on my trek for the next 4 days. Why not I thought and took the opportunity to have a bit more of a look around and also to do something different than sit on my bum which I had been doing for some days now on a bus. We were going to walk from Wilkawain-Monterrey and to get there we had to again jump into a small minibus. Once we arrived we started at the top of the hills and descended down passing again many gum trees that reminded me of home, soccer fields, small villages, women in the fields and kids playing. We had to walk straight through one village and as we did we came across a family that was preparing for a massive fiesta. Our guide talked with the people who told us that they were preparing for a fiesta the following night and would be catering up to
WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
The view from the top of the hill 1000 people....basically eveyone could come. There were many family members there helping to prepare the food which consisted of cuy (guinea pig), sheep, soup, potatoes and other vegetables. Apparantly in this area these fiestas are held every couple of years.....and the one family has to cater for everyone and usually costs around US$15,000, which is a lot of money even for someone not living in poverty. The reason why they do have these fiestas and save up for them for many years is that it gives the family prestidge forever after the celebrations. The family will save for many years to be able to afford the fiesta which is for anyone that wants to come. Later that day fireworks would be let off to let everyone in the area know that the next night there would be a fiesta......they would do this again the following day and these fireworks alone cost a lot of money. The following night people would arrive for the party and all their food and alcohol is supplied....the party goes all night and possibly into the next day. During the night a member of the family will come up to someone at the party and put
WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
Walking into the village while the kids play soccer a necklace around them.....this means that this person and their family are the next people to host a fiesta. This might not happen for a couple of years as that family will have to save money to be able to afford the fiesta. It is not an accepted thing to say that you can´t hold the fiesta so you really don't want to be given the necklace. I asked if we could come to the fiesta and was told that there was no problem with that but if I was given the necklace that I would too be expected to host one in the future. After the fiesta is over the family that hosts it puts up a flag above their house that tells everyone that they have hosted a fiesta in the past and that family is then held with high respect forever after that. I found it strange that people that looked like they lived in poverty would put what I see as high pressure on each other to be able to raise enough money to do this. These people are mainly subsistence farmers so I wouldn´t think that they would earn a lot of money, the time
WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
Women cooking for the fiesta with a lot of sheep carcass' lined up in the background and effort it takes to host a party like this must put a lot of strain on them. We had left from town the night that the fiesta was on so I am not sure how it all went for the family.
During the walk our guide also gave us lots of other interesting information about the local people and how they lived. The most interesting I found was to do with the hats that the women wear. In most parts of Bolivia and Peru I had seen women wearing all sorts of funky hats that represent many things other than a fashion statement. In this area you can tell many things about the woman wearing the hat....this is determined by the ribbon that is tied around the base of it. Depending on the colour and the location of part of the ribbon, it will tell you if the woman is married, a widow, separated, separated and looking for a partner, has a boyfriend and if she is a virgin. So there is nothing sacred in this part of the world and everyone else seems to know your business...of course the men don't have to wear nothing like this
WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
Me and the kids who are fascinated to see the screen of the camera, but were not as keen to have their photo taken. to let the world know their marital status or if they are a virgin or not. He also told us that if there is a woman in the park or somewhere and she sees a man she likes then she will pick something up that she can fan herself with to indicate to this man that she fancies him. The man will then know that this is the case and will approach the woman. At this time the woman plays hard to get and makes the man work hard to get anywhere with her. Especially in the mountains the woman want a strong man so they make sure that he is persistant for their love and this will indicate that he is strong enough for her.
The people that live in this area do have housing and are subsistence farmers but they are living near the poverty line. They have no electricity and in some places possibly no running water and live a very basic life. The land that they build on is owned by the state but they are allowed to choose an area and make that their home without having to buy the land. They are allowed
WILKAWAIN-MONTERREY WALK
Some women peeling potatoes for the fiesta....they were very shy to farm on it and live that way.....this works well for people who have no money but at any stage they might loose their land if the government decides that they need to use the land for something.
The walk was only short and not far from town but I had a great afternoon and was lucky enough to have someone explain a lot of different things about his people. I was also lucky enough to see some things that I would not have possibly seen in other places....and of course the gum trees made me feel at home.
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