activism
July 2008 
Remembering Why I am here
Posted on Feb 11th, 2008
by 
Kate Mariposa
Kate Mariposa
Puno is where Peru really came to life for me. the first place that has felt completely and excitinglly foreign, on the first night we arrived, with a big central market, stalls of women with vegetables, cheese, and a giant area of slabs of meat, pig heads...shops selling dinner for 1 or 2 soles (35-70 cents), women with bowler hats and braids carrying their babies on their backs in brightly colored homemade blankets.
And that first night, we hadn´t expected it, but the Virign of the Candelaria festival had already begun. We saw many bands walking through the streets, some playing pan flutes wearing traditional ponchos and hats, others wearing jeans and heels and moving to the music of a marching band, some people drinking pisco (Peruvian brandy). Fireworks going off all night, welcoming the groups of people to Puno, who came in from the countryside for this gathering. Again, it is when the pan flute troupe passes me that I feel tears begin to form...
The Virgin of the Candelaria is a celebration of Puno´s patron saint, a gathering that lasts February 2-18... the largest festival in the folklore capital of the world! The celebration is a mixture of Catholicism and traditional Aymara and Quechua culture. And it took me days to realize, of course, the syncretism that this is also the time of the Carnival, which is different from the Carnival in Brazil.
Carnival in Peru is a celebration of the harvest, and of Pachamama. It seems to be celebrated all over the country, but especially in areas with a high indigenous population. In the celebrations that we have witnessed, people come together dressed in traditional costumes while parading through town playing music and dancing. It is highly contageous fun! (In the cities it also includes a fair bit of drinking, and hitting other people with water balloons, shaving cream, and silly string... quite a mixture of the new and the old!)
The first official day of the Virgin de la Candelaria festival was the actual procession of the Virgin... The saint was carried through the town while a military (!) band played behind her. She was brought to the plaza de armas, and placed in front of the cathedral. Fireworks were set off in the crowd, people threw flowers and confetti. The priests spoke for quite a bit, and unfortunately my Spanish didn´t allow me to understand much of the words he spoke... then many people offered huge bouquets to the saint. Afterwards, a traditional music group from Puno (with drums and pan flutes) was brought to the stage and honored. Soon after, the saint was removed from the platform, and the procession around town continued, as it began to rain.
The second day of the festival, we started the morning with a trip to the local market with Jenny, the Peruvian owner of our hostal. Jenny explained to me that she really feels the music of the pan flutes, as it is the wind of the mountains. That explanation resonates with my emotional response to the music! We had a wonderful time at the market, sampling new fruits, herbs and grains. We bought a giant pod fruit called Nacay, which was longer than my arm! The fruit inside is white, with inedbile seeds... one of these days I when I am up to speed on writing I will work on my photo-computer skills! (Which actually seems difficult with slow old computers and I have yet to take a picture...) We also found stalls in the market that have blenders and juicers, and got to have carrot-beet-apple juice! Hooray!
This second day of the festival was devoted to a dance competion, with 84 different dance groups competing! It reminded me of a pow-wow, with many variations on several traditional dances. The costumes were all beautiful and rainbow colored. The music and dancing spilled out of the stadium and into the street, around town... The festival mellows out during the week, but next weekend things will pick up again.
After our time in Puno. we had the opportunity to take a boat tour on Lake Titicaca--the highest navigable lake in the world. Our first stop was the Uros islands, which are made entirely of reeds! The Uros people began living here to get away from war with either other idigenous groups or the Splaniards. About once a month, the people add a whole new layer of reeds to the top of the island. The islands need to be tied to stakes, or they would float away! They move continually with the waves... the Uros people make their houses and traditioanl boats out of the reeds as well!
The moment we arrived on the island, a little girl around age 2 latched onto my finger and gave me a personal tour of the island. I wasn´t sure if she was talking to me in Aymara, Spanish, or her own personal baby language... but she did show me her house, the women selling goods, a boat with newly gathered reeds. Oh yes, I remembered, I am here to connect with the children! I felt so blessed so have this so sweet connection with her, beyond words, just seeing her pure joy at sharing her little world with me... We got to take a short ride on a reed boat, to a neighboring island...
After Uros, we continued on to the island of Amanti, which is quite beautiful with its terraced hills. We were greeted by the women of our host families, all dressed ornately in their traditional attire and knitting as they waited! Tourism is one of the main livelihoods of the islanders, including farming, fishing, and stone work... so many families have extra rooms for tourists! There are no cars on the islands, which makes it quite lovely and very tranquillo! We walked up and up the hill... having started at about 12,500 feet already! Soon after our arrival, we were treated to a meal of quinoa soup, potatoes, rice, and fried Inca cheese. We also got cups of steaming hot muñia tea, an herb that grew right outside Nancy´s door. It turned out that Nancy, who I mistook for a daughter of the family, was actually the mother of an 11-year old.
Our group of tourists all gathered together to hike up to the Pacha Tata (father earth) temple. Though we could not enter the temple itself, the views from the top are incredible, and we got to watch the sun set over the lake! The neighboring hill top has a temple to Pacha Mama (mother earth), and every year in January there is a festival where all 8 of the island´s communities climb to the temples to give offerings--4 communities at each temple! Our guide explained that in the Inca tradition, there is empahasis placed on balance and duality. Though many words in Ayamara and Quechua are different, Mama Cocha is the mother lake in both languages...
After our wonderful hike, we returned to our host family´s small stone kitchen--with both a small gas stove and traditional stone oven--for a meal of potato soup, rice, pasta, and cheese, followed by coca tea. We didn´t expect to eat grains like rice and pasta, but we had been told to bring gifts like rice, sugar, and milk... which it seams are now incorporated into the islanders´ diet, along with the traditional quinoa, amaranth, corn, and beans...
After dinner we were dressed in the traditional clothing that I earlier had been coveting, and taken to the community center, to dance while a band of 4-5 boys, who seemed around age 10, played flutes and drums for us! Our 10-year old host Elisabetta, pulled us into dance after dance, circling and arm swinging. We were sleeping, but didn´t want to leave the fiesta early.. but when we saw Elisabetta dozing on an older lady´s shoulder, we knew it was time to go...Elisabetta also helps run the family store and can knit like her mother.
The biggest treat of the night, however, came when leaving the fiesta, and seeing the millions of stars overhead, with their light reflecting on the lake. In the distance, a lightening storm crackled on the far side of the lake, somewhere presumably over Bolivia. These, our first real stars of Peru--after big city lights and coastal fogs...
In the morning, after a somewhat non-traditional breakfast of pancakes ... we headed back down the hill to the boat. A warm, sunny day, so welcome in this rainy season of Peru! We headed to Taquille, another island nearby. We learned about the traditional clothing of the islanders... the men actually do most of the sewing! We also got to see many symbollic work... one weaving showing all the important events of a couple´s marriage, that is traditionally given to a man by his wife after 20 years of marriage...
They were celebrating carnival here, with musical parades to brightly decorated homes all over the island. One courtyard we saw was decorated with the traditionally woven bags in which people carry their coca leaves... Town hall was closed, so the leaders could participate in the festivities!
The treat of this day was getting to swim twice in Lake Titicaca, once near the port, and once when the boat pulled over to let us jump in! The water was quite cold, like a mountain lake in Coloradol... definitely refreshing on this hot and sunny day. After our return to Puno, Wade and I were pulled into a Carnival dance by the people dancing in the streets...and then got to share in the fun of being sprayed extensively with shaving cream... apparently this tradition is strong also in Cusco, the long'ago capital of the Incan Empire. We have been advised to wear our raincoats there, even when it´s not raining...
Jenny, our ever gracious host, packed us a mango, some chocolate, and oreos for the bus ride to Cusco!
And that first night, we hadn´t expected it, but the Virign of the Candelaria festival had already begun. We saw many bands walking through the streets, some playing pan flutes wearing traditional ponchos and hats, others wearing jeans and heels and moving to the music of a marching band, some people drinking pisco (Peruvian brandy). Fireworks going off all night, welcoming the groups of people to Puno, who came in from the countryside for this gathering. Again, it is when the pan flute troupe passes me that I feel tears begin to form...
The Virgin of the Candelaria is a celebration of Puno´s patron saint, a gathering that lasts February 2-18... the largest festival in the folklore capital of the world! The celebration is a mixture of Catholicism and traditional Aymara and Quechua culture. And it took me days to realize, of course, the syncretism that this is also the time of the Carnival, which is different from the Carnival in Brazil.
Carnival in Peru is a celebration of the harvest, and of Pachamama. It seems to be celebrated all over the country, but especially in areas with a high indigenous population. In the celebrations that we have witnessed, people come together dressed in traditional costumes while parading through town playing music and dancing. It is highly contageous fun! (In the cities it also includes a fair bit of drinking, and hitting other people with water balloons, shaving cream, and silly string... quite a mixture of the new and the old!)
The first official day of the Virgin de la Candelaria festival was the actual procession of the Virgin... The saint was carried through the town while a military (!) band played behind her. She was brought to the plaza de armas, and placed in front of the cathedral. Fireworks were set off in the crowd, people threw flowers and confetti. The priests spoke for quite a bit, and unfortunately my Spanish didn´t allow me to understand much of the words he spoke... then many people offered huge bouquets to the saint. Afterwards, a traditional music group from Puno (with drums and pan flutes) was brought to the stage and honored. Soon after, the saint was removed from the platform, and the procession around town continued, as it began to rain.
The second day of the festival, we started the morning with a trip to the local market with Jenny, the Peruvian owner of our hostal. Jenny explained to me that she really feels the music of the pan flutes, as it is the wind of the mountains. That explanation resonates with my emotional response to the music! We had a wonderful time at the market, sampling new fruits, herbs and grains. We bought a giant pod fruit called Nacay, which was longer than my arm! The fruit inside is white, with inedbile seeds... one of these days I when I am up to speed on writing I will work on my photo-computer skills! (Which actually seems difficult with slow old computers and I have yet to take a picture...) We also found stalls in the market that have blenders and juicers, and got to have carrot-beet-apple juice! Hooray!
This second day of the festival was devoted to a dance competion, with 84 different dance groups competing! It reminded me of a pow-wow, with many variations on several traditional dances. The costumes were all beautiful and rainbow colored. The music and dancing spilled out of the stadium and into the street, around town... The festival mellows out during the week, but next weekend things will pick up again.
After our time in Puno. we had the opportunity to take a boat tour on Lake Titicaca--the highest navigable lake in the world. Our first stop was the Uros islands, which are made entirely of reeds! The Uros people began living here to get away from war with either other idigenous groups or the Splaniards. About once a month, the people add a whole new layer of reeds to the top of the island. The islands need to be tied to stakes, or they would float away! They move continually with the waves... the Uros people make their houses and traditioanl boats out of the reeds as well!
The moment we arrived on the island, a little girl around age 2 latched onto my finger and gave me a personal tour of the island. I wasn´t sure if she was talking to me in Aymara, Spanish, or her own personal baby language... but she did show me her house, the women selling goods, a boat with newly gathered reeds. Oh yes, I remembered, I am here to connect with the children! I felt so blessed so have this so sweet connection with her, beyond words, just seeing her pure joy at sharing her little world with me... We got to take a short ride on a reed boat, to a neighboring island...
After Uros, we continued on to the island of Amanti, which is quite beautiful with its terraced hills. We were greeted by the women of our host families, all dressed ornately in their traditional attire and knitting as they waited! Tourism is one of the main livelihoods of the islanders, including farming, fishing, and stone work... so many families have extra rooms for tourists! There are no cars on the islands, which makes it quite lovely and very tranquillo! We walked up and up the hill... having started at about 12,500 feet already! Soon after our arrival, we were treated to a meal of quinoa soup, potatoes, rice, and fried Inca cheese. We also got cups of steaming hot muñia tea, an herb that grew right outside Nancy´s door. It turned out that Nancy, who I mistook for a daughter of the family, was actually the mother of an 11-year old.
Our group of tourists all gathered together to hike up to the Pacha Tata (father earth) temple. Though we could not enter the temple itself, the views from the top are incredible, and we got to watch the sun set over the lake! The neighboring hill top has a temple to Pacha Mama (mother earth), and every year in January there is a festival where all 8 of the island´s communities climb to the temples to give offerings--4 communities at each temple! Our guide explained that in the Inca tradition, there is empahasis placed on balance and duality. Though many words in Ayamara and Quechua are different, Mama Cocha is the mother lake in both languages...
After our wonderful hike, we returned to our host family´s small stone kitchen--with both a small gas stove and traditional stone oven--for a meal of potato soup, rice, pasta, and cheese, followed by coca tea. We didn´t expect to eat grains like rice and pasta, but we had been told to bring gifts like rice, sugar, and milk... which it seams are now incorporated into the islanders´ diet, along with the traditional quinoa, amaranth, corn, and beans...
After dinner we were dressed in the traditional clothing that I earlier had been coveting, and taken to the community center, to dance while a band of 4-5 boys, who seemed around age 10, played flutes and drums for us! Our 10-year old host Elisabetta, pulled us into dance after dance, circling and arm swinging. We were sleeping, but didn´t want to leave the fiesta early.. but when we saw Elisabetta dozing on an older lady´s shoulder, we knew it was time to go...Elisabetta also helps run the family store and can knit like her mother.
The biggest treat of the night, however, came when leaving the fiesta, and seeing the millions of stars overhead, with their light reflecting on the lake. In the distance, a lightening storm crackled on the far side of the lake, somewhere presumably over Bolivia. These, our first real stars of Peru--after big city lights and coastal fogs...
In the morning, after a somewhat non-traditional breakfast of pancakes ... we headed back down the hill to the boat. A warm, sunny day, so welcome in this rainy season of Peru! We headed to Taquille, another island nearby. We learned about the traditional clothing of the islanders... the men actually do most of the sewing! We also got to see many symbollic work... one weaving showing all the important events of a couple´s marriage, that is traditionally given to a man by his wife after 20 years of marriage...
They were celebrating carnival here, with musical parades to brightly decorated homes all over the island. One courtyard we saw was decorated with the traditionally woven bags in which people carry their coca leaves... Town hall was closed, so the leaders could participate in the festivities!
The treat of this day was getting to swim twice in Lake Titicaca, once near the port, and once when the boat pulled over to let us jump in! The water was quite cold, like a mountain lake in Coloradol... definitely refreshing on this hot and sunny day. After our return to Puno, Wade and I were pulled into a Carnival dance by the people dancing in the streets...and then got to share in the fun of being sprayed extensively with shaving cream... apparently this tradition is strong also in Cusco, the long'ago capital of the Incan Empire. We have been advised to wear our raincoats there, even when it´s not raining...
Jenny, our ever gracious host, packed us a mango, some chocolate, and oreos for the bus ride to Cusco!
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