Puno

Puno is very brown. On most days it’s merely Peru’s primary gateway to lake Titikaka, Uros floating archipelago and the normal islands. But when timed right, which we did, you’ll find the Peruvian capital of folklore in full carnival swing. The 2nd of February is the day of the Virgin of Candelaria, the principal saint of Lake Titikaka and her surrounds. This gives reason for a two week festival of processions, music, dancing and a moderate amount of partying – Peruvians at large don’t seem to take to the bottle quite as passionately as Europeans.

We arrived in town the evening before, on a Friday and were immediately welcomed with orchestras testing the limits of their horns and drums. As the night fell the Virgin Saint was revealed from her chapel and carried to the main cathedral with a small procession, ready for the next morning’s mass and a parade through all of Puno.

On Saturday morning we found hundreds of people working in well organised teams under flags and banners chalking up large sketches onto tarmac in traffic-free streets. Subdivisions of each team were busy picking thousands of flower petals. Sawdust was mixed with dyes on the spot with some help from spray paint and troweled inside the chalked up sketches. Intricate works of art were being created with great haste by communities, clubs, companies or groups of friends onto the path of the Virgin de Candelaria as offerings. Their commitment, precision and timing was exhilarating.

The weather changes incredibly quickly in this part of the country. As the images were primarily decorated with flower petals, the teams had to do everything at the last minute in case a rain spell came over and ruined everything before the Saint’s arrival. The sound of the orchestra was audible across the town and signalled that the statue is now on the move. We chose to hang out where 6 different communities had their elaborate artworks in quick succession. Each team had dedicated people running to the street corner to assess how far off the parade was and give a countdown. Others would then be distributing the flower petals, levelling out the sawdust and tweaking each detail so that the piece would be ready just for the saint’s arrival no sooner, no later. The military orchestra was very loud now, the watchman of the first team shouted Vamos, Vamos! as the team finished off their artwork, hoisted their flag and took a victorious group picture. One after another, beautiful and intricate artworks were finished off in honour of the Virgin de Candelaria. Their creators were immensely proud and jubilant. They had made it just in time to welcome the parade now etching around the corner. It was a lot of fun, the energy was fantastic and the street looked beautiful.

The centre piece of the parade was the statue of Virgen de Candelaria, swaying heavily side to side, tassels swinging in the rhythm of the thirty strong group of devotees carrying the immense fortune which decorated the wooden doll. In front of it were the representatives of the church, behind it the military orchestra, all the way around were stern looking soldiers with a rope to keep regular people outside the select group.

As the procession advanced, we watched how the military trampled on the beautiful artworks laid out before them, followed by the priests, followed by the tired and mournful carriers of the statue. The orchestra played the same heavy tune in repeat. Trailing behind were old ladies weeping.

Moments ago the street was covered in beautiful artwork made by excited and jovial civilians, everyone was cheering and having a great time. The energy was exhilarating. Then along came the military and church, hand in hand and destroyed it all. Now the energy was sucked out of people, the street was in a mess and everybody had received a reminder that they are small and insignificant.

Shortly after, what was left of the flowers, was wiped away, the streets open to traffic again and diesel fumes regained their domination of Puno. It was all so amazing for a brief half an hour…

Saturday had the religious focus, but Sunday was the real good fun – the festival of the people.

It all kicked off at 7am, when the stadium was conquered by thousands of dancers. Every community in south east Peru had turned up to perform their carefully choreographed dances in intricate pre-colonial traditional dress as part of a competition. The show was running from 7am to 6pm, each dance around 5 minutes and performed by some 50-100 dancers. Do the maths and you’ll figure the scale of the party. As soon as a group would finish, they’d take to the streets and march through Puno, playing music and dancing relentlessly in sunshine and in rain. This was a true carnival and we marvelled at the beauty of human spirit.