La Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen de Paucartambo

PAUCARTAMBO

Peru

Paucartambo is a small mountain village where the Andes Mountains meets the Amazon, making it a very culturally interesting area. This diverse history is celebrated during the 3 day Virgen del Carmen festival on July 16th. This white washed town speckled with blue doors relives history through traditional dances, colorful costumes, catholic worship, indigenous beliefs, street food, wild fireworks, throwing mattresses off of balconies, and setting fire to paper mache guinea pigs.

Complete photo story below

Music filled the streets for three days. Every group had their own song and dance to perform.

Watch out for the whips! A playful way to keep people in line? But seriously don't act out, you will get whipped.

The Virgen del Carmen, resting until her big day before she is promenaded through the streets at the climax of the festival

There were s many different costumes, it was hard to keep track. People dressed as demons, lawyers, business men, yellow fever victims, colonial figures, Spanish conquistadors, herders, religious figures, people from the Amazon and much more. The museum in town explains all of them.

Women of the Amazon, some of my favorite costumes.

This moment caught me off guard. I was in heaven trying to capture the energy around me, but I had tunnel vision behind my camera. This man jumped right in my lens. My first reaction was to snap a photo. I got the shot! He screamed at me, and before I knew it, I was being lifted of the ground, shaken, spun around, and then he started hysterically laughing and ran off. This festival is wild!

These masks are available for purchase but they are not the real deal and made from cheap materials.

We stood out like a sore thumb, but the community was so welcoming and made us feel a part of the festivities.

The men wearing yellow bludgeoning each other are the Chukchu. This is symbolic of those who were killed during the yellow fever epidemic. Delirium was one of the symptoms of yellow fever and the dances are often satires. In this case I believe beating each other represents the madness that occurred in the late stages of the disease.

Young one in training. The town is divided into different sections, and each sector has their own costume and their roles and traditions are passed down from generation to generation.

I'm pretty sure this man AND his horse were drunk. These are the big nosed drunk Spanish Conquistadors. A parody for that point in history. Many of the stories were parodies as history isn't always a happy story, might as well find some humor.

I wasn't lying about the drunk horses. We had to be very careful because the horses were tripping and running into the crowds.

I very much appreciated the detail of the costumes.

The little kid on the right is kinda creepy.

The performers knew how to get a rise out of the crowd. Christina was the perfect target, and seemed to be everyones favorite target!

A big festival in a small town means no sleeping accommodations. The limited number of hotels are booked out over a year in advance. Another reason to go with a tour group. Since we were the first people to sign up for the trip, we got to decide where we slept. Option 1) Tents in a soccer field. Option 2) Sleeping bags on the floor of a classroom. Option 3) Tents in a classroom. Option 3 of course!

Home sweet home!

Tents are not good for smelly feet.

Really big person in a really small chair.

Lunch Time!

Enjoying the fruits of their labor after hunting down some churros.

Jugo de naranja (fresh organge juice) was the elixir of life for Sander while recovering from the Colca Canyon and Rainbow Mountain hike. It's tempting to do a lot of hikes in Peru, but be forwarned, they can be exhausting when you do them back to back! But definitely worth it.

The streets were alive with color and music all day long. And then came the night...

Once night falls, things start to escalate. The performers start setting everything on fire.

The nighttime firework show was WILD.

Flaming Guinea Pig of Death!

Our guides warned us against wearing nice clothes and to wear something that we didn't mind catching on fire.

No room to move. Luckily we got a good spot, but it was tight.

The contraption above was the Grand Finale. No fire codes here.

After an amazing day, we headed back to our tents and only after 2 hours of sleep, we woke up to drive to Tres Cruces, one of only two places in the world where the sun will dance across the sky when it rises in the winter. After a 2 hour rocky drive along narrow cliff roads followed by 4 hours of freezing in the dark, there was too much cloud cover to see the sun dance. My sister's and husband's expression says it all.

But we did see this...

The second day started with the gift throwing ceremony. Dolls, baskets, wooden shelves, oranges were entertainingly thrown into the crowd. Sander caught an orange!

Things got weird. Opposite to the men throwing gifts was this guy wearing a pig mask who provided comic relief. We had to watch our heads as mattresses, tires, and pig carcasses came raining from above. All highly desired prizes as people fought over them.

There goes the mattress.

There goes a tire.

And there goes a bucket.

What I really wanted to catch was one of these dolls, but no such luck, maybe next time!

Next on the agenda was to find some good street food.

Chicharones!!

We found the BBQ joint. On the right you can see Cuy (Guinea Pig).

We then checked out the Festival's Museum. An absolute must to understand all the different costumes and history.

It's about time for the Procession of the Virgin Mary. This is the main event of the entire festival. Check out the demons, called Saqras, on the rooftops. Their purpose is to try to tempt the Virgin Mary, but she does not waver. When she approaches closer, the demons cower in her presence.

The revered Virgen del Carmen in all her glory