Good neighbors

Went to pay our rent to Señora Nelly, the dear Peruvian abuelita who lives downstairs, and returned with a potted plant for our courtyard, two tiny rocoto peppers from her garden, an apple and a grenadía she took from a basket in her kitchen.  These are days when Peru feels like home.

Madrigal: Candelaria

Once we got settled in at Paula's cousin's house, we followed the sound of live music to the home where most of the town was gathered. As with all festivals in Colca Canyon, Candelaria in Madrigal is steeped in local music and dance, and that's what started the festivities Thursday evening.

The wititi, pictured above, is a traditional dance representing the courtship of a young woman by a young man from a rival community (think West Side Story), danced to music played on drums and brass by local musicians. According to tradition, a young man would disguise himself in women's clothing with the tasseled hat shown above and take advantage of local festivals to dance unsuspected with his love and eventually woo her.  

(For the record, our own Ñaña Frida is a fantastic wititi dancer and could take on anyone in this crowd.)

Dancing continued long after the rain began, and we could still hear the band playing late into the night as people paraded from house to house around the town.

The next morning, the band played on and the townspeople, dressed in their typical clothing, danced behind them as they progressed around the town square. 

The patrons of this year's party:

The fusion of Spanish Catholic traditions with local customs is present throughout Peruvian culture, and this celebration is no exception.  Named for the Virgin Mary of Candelaria whose origins can be traced back to the Canary Islands, this festival seamlessly mixes the centuries-old local dances, dress, and music of Colca with the veneration of Mary through Masses and elaborate altars like the one Domi, Victoria and Frida pose in front in the photo below.

Just looking at this photo you can see how nationalism and a globalized economy (i.e., stuffed animals holding hearts with English messages hanging among the silver platters) are also added into this complex blend of influences to create new and constantly evolving customs.

Madrigal: Crossing the Canyon

The trip the picarones were going to pay for was to the village of Madrigal, located on the other side of Colca Canyon between Huambo and Chivay.  Paula, my comadre, is from Madrigal and wanted to return home to celebrate the festival of the Virgin of Candelaria on the 26th and 27th.  (The festival is usually celebrated on February 2nd, but Madrigal, a town known for its musical talent, celebrates the week before so the musicians can play at bigger cities' celebrations the following week.)

Paula and the rest of the knitters who were coming along decided we'd meet at the bus terminal at 6:00 Thursday morning, but -- no surprise -- they hadn't actually checked the bus schedule to find out that the bus leaves at 5:30, and then didn't arrive until 6:30.  Once they confirmed that there were no more buses to Madrigal that day, they managed to find a private van driven by our new best friend Leo, who was accompanied by his two teenagers.  Everyone piled into the van, the ladies donned their Colca hats, and we were off.

 

First stop: breakfast.  While Leo took his time sitting down to dine at the Arequipeñan equivalent of a truck stop diner, we wandered off in search of the kiwi-like fruit of the sancallo cactus plant.  Kati, Victoria's daughter, poses above next to the spiky giant.  Below, Sebastiana uses a stick to carefully scrape the spines off the peel of the fruit.

 

The cactus also boasts these gorgeous white flowers:

Once everyone was back on the bus we headed on towards Chivay to stop at the thermal baths.  After last year's episode I decided to sit this one out, but I did get close enough to take the photo below of the stand where Lexi and I had bought our one-size-fits-all swimsuits.

After the baths, we wandered into town to eat lunch and take some photos next to the famous wititi statues.  

At this point we'd already managed to convince our driver to stick around several hours longer than he'd initially planned, and by the time we finished lunch the ladies had cajoled him into taking us the rest of the way to Madrigal as well.  

Feeling quite lucky, we made our way over the river from Chivay to the other side of the canyon.  The bridge above was Incan or pre-Incan, depending on who you asked, and I was happy to admire it from a distance as we crossed on a more modern version.