Festival de la Virgen

Festival de la Virgen del Candelaria

I was in Puno, Peru for three weeks. It was the festival de la Virgen de Candelaria.

I performed with the Sikuris Andean windpipe group, and we danced the whole time. The main events were held on the weekends where we would do stadium performances or we would dance through the streets for hours. The main days we danced from 9 am to 6 pm, took a break and ate and then watched the some 50 odd groups that were all marching through the streets and party and have a good time. Some of the costumes were amazing, beyond things I had imagined would be in a festival. Some of the hand made metal masks I saw were at least 4 feet tall, painted, with crazy devil characteristics (taken from the Pagaen ancestry), colorful. They would wear them for hours. Groups costumes included everything from traditional more conservative campesino clothing, to more colonial influenced brightly colored costumes, to devil like monster gods, to hand made 40 kilo dragon costumes....and everything inbetween. It was a visual and audio spectacular.....there is just this contagious energy that flows through everybody, everybody is HAPPY!!!!! The days and nights were filled with music, dancing, food, parades, practices, and get togethers... definitely one of my trip tops.

During the days of rest, as I like to call them.....the week between Candelaria and Carnaval, I went a couple of new places. One of them was the town of Chiqui on Lake Titicaca. The drive by Lake Titicaca was beautiful, filled with little pueblos, drying reeds, boats fishing trout, the rugged altiplano landscape and clear endless blue skies. We made it to the little town and checked out the old lookouts, falling churches, a trout farm run by the Puno University. We also made our way to an ancient fertility ruin, a smallish square filled with rock penises. Some of the facing upward to give fertility to the sun god, some facing into the group to give fertility to Pachamama, Mother Earth. We took fun pictures and said we were just recently married, so I could get the non-gringa price. (Then at the end told the lady my husband was made at me because I sat on one of the penises, which they believe quadruples your fertility chances)

Sidenote: Gringo/Gringa is not a derrogatory term here, it doesn´t mean somebody bad, it simply means somebody different, who looks different, talks different, has different practices. So i´ve learned not be offended.

I got to know Puno Peru really well due to my couchsurfer Lizandro and everything he introduced me to. I spent my last couple of days driving around on the 1960 Honda moto with Freddy, going to the market which occupies some 20 block straights and then has a 4 x 6 block ending....markets everywhere which I loved, eating ice cream, hanging at the cafe with our friends, and practicing the windpipe. I´ve decided to go back next February to dance again with this group, a new tradition.

Where to begin?!?!

I know I haven´t written in awhile, and for good reason...phew! I am here in Puno, Peru.

I had written a little about the first nite that I got here. From there...right now is the Festival del Virgen del Candelaria here, a two week long festival. It is the third largest in South America (1st Carnival in Rio, 2nd Bolivia) I have officially joined the group Huj´maya. The Puno siku (andean flute), drum, and traditional dance group that combines the two indigenous cultures here, Quechua and Aymara. I have learned the traditional dances for some 7 odd dances that we are going to perform in the stadium here in front of thousands of people, and from there march through the streets...a three day event! Basically all day and nite. Traditional dress and all. Its so awesome this group, they are great, I can´t even begin to explain. Last weekend commenced the festival, and there was bands marching through the streets and dancing at all hours...craziness. There are some 400 traditional dances just from this region of Puno. All of them have traditional dress as well....it´s a huge event. (Why don´t the states have festivals like this?) We marched through the streets...i think i´ll just have to explain when i get back!!!

Also I went to Lake Titicaca. We went to the Floating Islands (that YES they do actually float), which were very interesting and beautiful. From there made our way to Island Taquile to see the community that lives there (who have maintained a lot of their original aymara culture, and are world known for their cloths)

Hanging out with some of the people from Huj´maya. And Freddy lets me borrow his motocycle, and he lets me drive. So we spent a day driving around Puno seeing all the cool places, mostly those that tourists don´t see :) And going to his band practice (he plays harmonica as well). We went to cool lookouts that you can see L. Titicaca and all of Puno, harbored ships converted to restaurants, local bars, and lots of highway hahaha.

There have also been other couchsurfers who have strolled through, from Germany, Belgium... and we have lots of fun as well.

Another of my trip tops was last Saturday night, the best fiesta I´ve seen. Fireworks, parades, tons of music groups, dancing...it was amazing....everybody dancing everywhere. Huj´maya also is amking a video for the group, and I got to participate!!! I dressed in traditional dress and we performed and did scenes from the indigenous culture. Granted it took all day, and now I know I can´t be an actress! But it was fun all the same.

Couchsurfing

So one of the things that has brought me such great success while traveling, is the program Couchsurfing (http://www.couchsurfing.com/)



Anytime I meet cool travelers on the road I try and explain to them what it is all about. If you haven´t read so far about all my couchsurfing experiences, I highly recommend you do (There is a label for most of them on the blog posts)



Here are just some quick facts (as of 1/29/2009)


CouchSurfers
926,326
Successful Surf or Host Experiences
890,502
Friendships Created
1,052,305
Positive Experiences
1,720,574
Countries Represented
231
Cities Represented
53,767





Now just mentally pictures those numbers. There are 231 COUNTRIES represented. Almost 1,000,000 people in the program.

Now check out the map:

http://www.couchsurfing.com/where_are_they.html?large=1



Even if you don´t want to host people, or aren´t traveling....still a great social network to meet new people, and people with amazing thoughts and views!

Siku Andean windpipes

Yesterday, after a very eventful bus ride, I have arrived to Puno, Peru.

Well maybe we´ll start off with our eventful bus ride. Here in Peru there are various various bus companies, ranging from cheap to very expensive- and it´s usually price correlated. I chose one of the cheaper buses this time....hoped on after it showed up 30 mins. late. Instantly surrounded by all Peruvians, blasting Cumbia music and food vendors....felt like where I should be. (Because for me, those tourist set ups are a a little suffocating...) After 30 mins on the road, we were reaching the altiplano (high desert plains) region, and we stopped all of a sudden for a tire related problem, or so we were told. And our driver disappeared.... gone. So we sat there for a good while, indigenous woman getting heated over the injusticia of it all. Then some other guy from the middle of nowhere shows up, hops in and starts driving the bus. Well I don´t know about you, but I don´t know how many strangers can drive a 30 seater bus on high desert roads and keep everybody alive...but things turned out good...we were driving smoothly by alpaca heards and mountain tops and desert landscapè. Then we hit a line of cars...turns out just above on a mild curve, two semis crashed head on....on a two way road....provides problems. So lots of waiting for the clearing and all. After finally getting on with it, we stopped in Juliaca and they dropped us all of. Now that would of veen bad, a 5 hour trip turned into 8 hours....but I paid to go to Puno, not a town Juliaca....errrr. So ended up needing to find another bus to Puno which ended up not being that far. Adventure. And I love that I can do that, and everything always turns out fun.

Here in Puno, which is located on Lake Titicaca (the border of Bolivia/Peru) and this Lake is the largest navigable lake of it´s kind at this elevation. I am couchsurfing with a native Punoino. Last night we met up with Julie, from Montreal, who was also staying at his house. We met up and went to dinner (it was Julie´s last night here). We went and had traditional food, alpaca. Alpaca, which some may of heard of, is in the Llama family and they use here to make amazingly warm articles of clothing, and apparently it is also really good meat with really low cholestrol..... finally i found it then! hahaha

We ate and then headed to Lizandro (the couchsurfer) music group meeting. This group is mostly people here from Puno. The men in the group play the traditional windpipes (see the picture) and play these very large drums, sometimes simutaneously! And usually in a rotating circular formation. The women wear traditional dresses and dance. They taught us the many traditional dances they have and we went and practiced as a group in front of the church. It was awesome (especially, the whole non-tourist thing) and we were there for a couple of hours doing the dancing and playing traditional music.

Afterwards we made our way to their favorite local bar and had a drink. What a great welcome to Puno, Peru.

FREE HUGS!!!! ABRAZOS GRATIS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

"All The Same"

I dont mind where you come from
As long as you come to me
But I dont like illusions I cant see
Them clearly
I dont care, no I wouldn't dare
To fix the twist in you
You've shown me eventually what you'll do
I dont mind
I dont care
As long as you're here

[Chorus]

Go ahead and tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
And do it all over again
It's all the same

Hours slide and days go by
Till you decide to come
But in-between it always seems too long
Suddenly
But I have the skill, yeah
I have the will, to breath you in while I can
However long you stay is all that I am

I dont mind, I dont care
As long as you're here

Go ahead and tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
And do it all over again
It's always the same

Wrong or Right
Black or White
If I close my eyes
Its all the same

In my life
The compromise
I'll close my eyes
Its all the same

Go ahead say it
You're leaving
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are now
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same

Little survey

Ok so now that I see EVERYBODY in the world has read my post on the sandboarding experience, there is something else.... on my last night there, literally, I was sitting atop the highest sand dune looking down on the oasis and I met Kent Foster from CA. We got to talking and had a fun little conversation about my mom maybe being a hippie and marrying, me being 19, and a womens prison in Quito that has a 19-yr old from Wyoming who is there for swallowing 30 some odd condoms full of Heroine to smuggle into the states (he proposed I may be down here to do the same if I fall in love with some Peruvian or something...I guess we{ll wait and see.....but it probably doesn{t help that I´ve already lied to the police down here innumerable times, mostly to get out of fines....and spending 1/3 of my time in Ecuador illegally.....doesn´t help). But back to the point, had some fun conversation. He{s traveled everywhere, check out his site at www.kentfoster.com, it´s pretty cool, if I do add. But there is a FAQ´s page, so i thought I´d give it a whirl.....

Please feel free to send me more questions on the message board or write me and email at knmelody48@yahoo.com and i´ll post them and answer ém.


Question: Where have you been lately?
Well if you are only reading this blog entry, then maybe hit the back button and read the rest!!! :) This trip, traveling S. America until I feel like going home. I have been in Colombia, from the Farc infested south, through the coffee growing zone, to the iffy pacific, to the beautiful metropolitan of Medellin, to the Carribean coast near the lost city, and down to the over-sized like Mc Donalds Bogota. In Ecuador, I spent the biggest chunk of my time (in one of the smallest countries in SA!) I went everywhere in Ecuador from the beautiful coast and the ¨Ruta del Sol¨ {Sun route), the closest to the sun peaks of the Sierra, the humid mosquito infested area of the jungle, and the uniquely beautiful Galapagos Islands. In recently entered Peru, I have seen the desert dry northern coast with some of the biggest surfer spots, the Cordillera Blanca and the snow topped peaks of the Andes, Sand dunes, and then heading back to climb some more!

Question: How many countries have you visited?
I´m young...i´ve only JUST BEGUN!!!!
Honduras when I was 17, for 1 1/2 mos. as a part of Amigos de las Americas
This trip: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.... tbc

Q: What`s your favorite country?
Countryside- Colombia
People- Ecuador
Personal meaning/significance- Honduras

Q: What country do you want to visit that you have never been?
My top three countries on my list would be
1.New Zealand
2. Ireland
3.Greece
But, and yes I´m already thinking of it, my next biggish trip will be SouthEast Asia

Q: Window or aisle?
Answer...black bear, beats , battlestar galaxia....ok lame joke only probably one person reading this got....WINDOW, gotta see those views. When else can 20 sq. feet of ocean look like a confetti square

Q: How much money do you make?
Um...i´m 19....(almost 20!)

Q: What food from home do you miss when traveling?
Peanut Butter!!!!! And mom´s tacos!

Q: What is the grossest thing you´ve seen?
Well you pretty much learn not to be grossed out anymore, cockroaches crawling up my wall...not too uncommon. But HEY! at least I´m not naming the cockroaches yet!!!

Q: What about school?
Well my opinion changes on this frequently, but lately it has pretty much stuck too... I don{t know what I want to do yet, so i{m not in a hurry to rush back and waste money!

Q: What is the most amazing thing you´ve seen?
Well this trip the Guatape Rock in Colombia was pretty amazing. But also, the willingness to give

Q:Aren´t you bored?
No.

Sand Dunes!!!

So back in 2008 when Julie and I were planning this little trip, there were a couple of ¨must do´s ¨ that we saw when we researched. One of the must do´s for me was to try Sand Dune board diving.
When I left the beautiful mountain city of Huaraz, I headed to Ica, a coastal town. Right outside of Ica there is a small little oasis community called Huacachina. This is a nestled away oasis with palm trees, lagoon, and rolling hills of SAND. The dunes were gorgeous. Huacachina is known for it´s sandboarding and so the first day I was there, I met some people that were going and we decided to all go together. Now if you have EVER tried walking up or down dunes of sand, you would know that it is quite difficult!!!! So what we all did was got a dune buggy and somebody to drive it. Turns out the guy who drove our car was the craziest driver there. What a blast! We went ripping through the dunes, flying over mound, and bouncing all over the place.
We first tried the sandboarding on smaller hills to get a feel for it. I tried on my feet first, using all the snowboarding skills I could remember, but figured out the only option if you didn´t want to wipe out was to kamakazie it all the way down the hills...straight down. So after a couple of attempts, I got the hang of it and was able to go down medium sized dunes on my feet, pretty exciting!
But then they took us to the real dunes, the ones that are 150 yards high....BIG DUNES. Well this was a little different, we all decided it would be better, and much less painfull if we fall, if we go on our stomachs. So we went down HUGE DUNES on our stomachs at fast fast fast speeds....what an adrenaline rush. I had a good rally going on by getting the farthest...but eventually was overtaken by a really skinny guy from China....close to winning.
We went down quite a few huge dunes and it was really really amazing, h ighly recommend it!!!! So I put a little check on my imaginary list, accomplishing something I really wanted to try while down here....life is good. I spent 2 1/2 dys there in the hot climate swimming and all, relaxing, because there really isn´t much to do besides ride down dunes the size of football fields.

From there I have headed to Arequipa, near the border of Chile/Peru. This city is known as ¨THe White City¨ and I have yet to explore much of it. But last night we did do a couchsurfer get together with people that live here in Arequipa and are a part of couchsurfing. Once again I´ll say, it´s a great way to actually get to know the people and places of somewhere you are visiting, instead of the whole hostal and tourist gig you would be stuck in if you didn´t try it. You always meet great people and have a blast. Well keep you updated.

post: Have a great Engagement Party Mom!!!! Congratulations to Carolyn and Devin I am glad you guys found happiness, and eachother.

Can you believe I only have 4 months left!!!!!!!! AAAHHHHH

also, I put more pictures up on facebook, if you have an account, there are more of the mountain trip I did, and also of the sandboarding.