Virgen de la Candelaria folk dance contest in Puno

  Puno, Peru
Sunday, February 3, 2008

dancer

So I didn't make it to Oruro in Bolivia in time for the La Diablada festival. Instead, I made my base in Puno for a few days, from where I could explore the famous floating islands on Lake Titicaca (the highest altitude navigable lake in the world), and attend the Virgen de la Candelaria folk dance contest. In the end, it turned out to be a marvellous experience and almost made up for missing the scary monster masks at the Oruro festival.

I met up with our Colca Canyon guide (yet another Carlos) in Puno, as he too had arrived for the festival. In reality, I spent most of the festival day alone as he had been erroneously told (repeat theme) that the dance contest went on for a few days, and arrived towards the end of Sunday - which was actually the only day of the contest.

me and cuzco dancer

The main event took place at the city stadium; it started at 8am and carried on until 7pm. There were at least 80 dance ensembles from all over Peru; each group had a different and very colourful costume. Some dances were well structured and all dancers were in tact, others seemed a little disorganized. But one thing was common among all - everyone was having so much fun dancing. Most impressive, there were quite a number of old people and just as many children, some hardly 3 years of age.

spin it

But the costumes, the costumes were amazing...

The best part for me was that Carlos asked the guards if they would let me sit at the edge of the stadium floor together with the accredited journalists (of which there were quite a few) - and THEY DID!!!! So enjoy my photos, coz I enjoyed taking them!

As if this were not enough, upon leaving the secure area I was actually interviewed... in Spanish!!! Silly me though, I forgot to ask the journalist which paper she worked for (I'm guessing it was a paper because there was no rolling camera present). There you go, my 5 minutes of fame in Peru, hahaha...

45-folk dances in puno

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Totally separate from this, Carlos and I went to vitis Los Uros, or the floating islands on the Titicaca lake. They're only a 30 minute boat ride from industrialized Puno, but they might as well be on the other end of the world - that's how stark the contrast was. This small community lives on islands of floating totora reeds (which are edible, mind you, I tried one and it was rather tasteless... but I guess your taste buds adjust to anything given time). Interesingly, these people grow crops like potatoes on the islands. We also saw pet guinea pigs, pigs, ducks and herons (?).

totora reed boat

We observed them drying fish out in the baking sun, and making crafts which they then sell (hard sell) to the hoards of tourists. The thing that struck me most is that as basic as their straw hut accomodations were, these people had solar panels!!! Apparently the panels are only used for light in the evening and for cooking, not for heating shower water. Ah yes, bathroom facilities. I DID ask about that (you know me, I am shameless). They dig out a hole in the totora root system, that's about it. The roots go down 2-3 meters, and the water is about 17-18 meters deep beyond that. Totally fascinating...

.. enjoying the sun some more

I then headed for Bolivia. On the way there I enjoyed the scenery - it seemed as if the clouds were kissing the lake somewhere in the distance, and their whiteness was perfectly mirrored by the glassy waters. The closer we got to the border, the more rural life appeared to be. Cows, llamas and sheep were at pasture, fishermen were pulling their nets into their reed boats, villagers were working on the fertile fields that are irrigated by the lake. I'll never forget these idyllic sights.

At the border I found out that I need a visa! AH! My only consolation was that the passport control official (who was very helpful) told me that I am the first Bulgarian to venture through that particular border crossing...

lady drying goose meat

So there you go, that's Peru for you! I am now trying to summarize my thoughts about the Peruvians, not an easy task. That will be my last entry for this country. And that's all, folks!