PISAQ, CUSCO, PERU
JULY 2015
While in Cusco I heard about a local, seasonal fiesta happening during the 15-20 of July. It’s held in honor of the Virgen del Carmen, who represents the mestizo of Peru, and is celebrated mainly in two or three towns outside of Cusco. For the town of Paucartambo, it is the biggest event of the year and includes three days of dancing and street party; a seasonal celebration of the return of Mother Earth with a mix of Andean pre-colonial and Christian imagery.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get to Paucartambo, but the cute market town of Pisaq, 40 minutes overhill from Cusco, has a fun, colorful, chaotic little fiesta for Carmen, and I made it there in time for the end with a little magic to help.
When the fiesta begins I am in Cusco, finishing a volunteer gig. Parades and processions happen often here and assemble quickly. About 5 pm on July 15, kids in colorful clothing fill the Plaza and Avenida el Sol down to Qorikancha, the Inka temple to the sun. Traditional Andean music plays on stereos of each group, and the kids all dance excitedly as the cold evening air sets in.
The following day, during lunch outside the Mercado San Pedro, loud small fireworks are shot up and the area is cleared with little warning. Some folks carry an icon of the Virgen del Carmen to the San Pedro Cathedral and cover (her) with confetti. There is some singing and dancing, then everyone returns to their usual day, or so it seems.
On Saturday, the final day of the fiesta, I attempt to take a combi on the 3 hour ride to Paucartambo. However, local buses are full and I have trouble finding my way to the combi stop at Mercado Control at the south end of town. Distraught, I find a group of payasos – clown superhero travelers – giving out free hugs and entertaining locals. In a way that happens more as the day goes on, they bring me in their group as ‘Supermiel’ when I put on my insectoid antennae, and we dance and sing around the mercado in exchange for fruit. One of the payasos wears a big clock around his neck and his power is control of time. Somehow, when I decide I need to go find a combi to Pisaq, we have given many hugs and sang many songs but it is exactly the right time to get the bus back uphill to the Pisaq combi stop.
In Pisaq the combi arrives and the Plaza is quiet, though there is a group of folks sitting around as if waiting. One street vendor says the fiesta is completely over and another says things will start again at 4:30. A few stray costumed, masked folks run around, destination unknown. On a side street I meet fellow travel blogger Lainie Liberti and son Miro with his friends. Back in the Plaza, more locals and vendors arrive slowly.
Before sunset, small processions with drums wind randomly through the streets and into the Plaza, some in costumes, some just full of smiling adults, and one group carrying Carmen. Then, the dancers in black and white masks reappear – including the Qhapaq Negro, symbolizing Afro-Peruanos – followed by elequently dressed (Spaniards?) with ropes and there are several dances along this theme. Following them are a group of round dancers wearing bright hanging colors and brown masks, and an elegant llama in the center, with flute and drum music. It is night.
At the Hospedaje Gato Negro, where I have a room for the night, my musicmate Barbaroja happens to be sitting in front. He came with a traveler from Holland who decided to come here because of the ‘black cat’ symbolism. I gather my instruments and return with them back to the Plaza where more revelers gather. We follow longer processions of women in white whipping through side streets, around cars, and through drumlines of drunken men mixed with Qhapaq Negro, playing along in rhythm. No photo could capture the experience of dancing through these night streets, not knowing what would be on the next block.
Later, Barbaroja, the man from Holland, I, and a couple others feast with some of the costumed dancers in a ‘private’ party. Free food and Cusqueña beer accompany live cumbia late into the night. Among the food is cuy horno, baked guinea pig, which I eat for the first time in my life.
It’s bony but flavorful, like tougher dark chicken.
In the Plaza, more live cumbia plays and beers are drunk then thrown in the streets.
I got to see Carmen and her glory for one magic night and now in the morning quiet light to the woosh of the Rio Vilcanota, I think she is gone.
Some more info about the Virgen del Carmen:
http://www.apus-peru.com/trip-planning/virgen_of_carmen.htm
http://www.incaworldperu.com/cultural-tours-peru/paucartambo-virgen-del-carmen.html
-Arianna
arianna's creative travels 