Advertisement
Published: February 21st 2008
Edit Blog Post
Festival in the Sacred Valley
We stopped by to check out the festivities. So these past 4 or 5 days we have been hardcore tourists. In order to get the most out of our time and money, we must be hardcore. Dozens of churches, museums, markets, festivals, we must hit them all. Forget pleasure, tranquility, and leisure, we´re on the move baby! I admit it´s a bit tiring and I´m getting burned out. If I were traveling for months at a time, I would go at a much slower pace.
On the way back from Aguas Calientes and through the Sacred Valley to Cusco, we saw a festival (for Carnival) on the side of the road. We stopped our taxi to join the festivities in this small town. We were the only tourists there and it was an incrediably pure cultural experience.
The first thing I did was to purchase some Chicha (beer made from corn). It was very sweet and acidic and not as strong as I expected. They also had a small tent with several foosball tables. I've never been so happy to see foosball in my entire life! I spent this past summer helping to manage a summer camp where I had the opportunity and pleasure to smash innocent
Cuy
This is guinea pig, it wasn't bad. kids in foosball daily. And I proclaim today that smashing Peruvian kids is quite the same - and this is more profound than it initially seems.
I also ate ¨cuy¨ for the first time, which is a Peruvian dish that involves roasted guinea pig. It tasted a bit like chicken.
We also sat down and chilled with a couple of families enjoying the festivities. I was really getting along with the two fathers (a banker and a police officer), we chatted about the country and its people, told some jokes, and shared a few (too many) beers. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and was exactly what I was talking about in my last entry.
Our return to Cusco involved a lot of sight seeing that we were not able to do before leaving to hike. We then took a 7 hour bus ride over night to Puno.
I had an incredible time in Puno. During the day we visited the Uros floating islands. These are islands built completely from the reeds that grow in Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. The people supposedly still live the lives of their ancestors who lived
Reeds!
The reeds that the floating islands are made out of are edible too. on the islands generations before. However, they now predominantly live off of tourism, the biggest industry in Peru. The islands were novel and good for an ¨I've seen this¨ type of experience.
At night is when the real fun began! We arrived during the Festival de la Virgen de la Candelaría. The festival is to celebrate the patron saint of Puno and involves foam wars, parades, dancing and music, spiritual reverance, and candles.
I was lucky enough to encounter one of the two main churches during the time in which they were practicing per festival tradition. I bought a candle and walked in, and though I didn´t quite know what to do, I gathered that it involved prayer and candle lighting. So I solemnly said a prayer and lit my candle. It´s quite nice to have such calm and reflective moments during such an active trip.
I then proceeded to buy multiple foam cans (a la ¨double fisting¨) and roamed the streets assaulting people who were participating in the fun. It was very nice to feel so young.
At the end of the night, I went to my first South American dance club with some Chilean
Candles
These were the candles lit during the Festival de la Virgen Candeleria in Puno. girls that were staying at our hostel. It was an interesting experience, and for the first time I experienced a bit of culture shock. The salsa here is slightly modified (this is a very America-centric statement, but I couldn't find anything more apt), yet completely different from what I know. Their reggaeton is analogous to hip-hop here, yet it is danced much farther apart and there is no ¨grinding¨of any kind. Basically my dancing stood out as out of place and I was struggling to tone it down to fit in. I was looking around and the guys weren't really doing too much so I didn't get the deal. At one point, the girl I was dancing looked at me like I didn't know what I was doing.
It was an overall educating and fun experience. Skills, abilities, and things that I feel identify me no longer operate in the same ways or at all. I've come to realize how comfortable I feel when I encounter other Americans on the journey. And though I don´t believe I´ll ever shed my American self, I look forward to shedding a bit of my cultural comfort in favor of a more international
Girls from Hostel
We met them in the morning on the way to the Uros Islands. understanding.
Puno was awesome!
P.S. I'm having trouble with the video hosting, so I will use youtube from now on.
Foam Wars The Uros 'Floating' Islands Puno at Night Puno Parade
Advertisement
Tot: 0.195s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 16; qc: 69; dbt: 0.07s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb