¡CARNAVAL CUSQUENO!
Last Sunday morning, I went to mass in the main Cathedral of Cusco at 7:30 in the morning. It was the first time I had been inside the Cathedral and it was beautiful. The colonial Spanish architecture was extremely elaborate, with every last corner decorated with intricate carvings and massive paintings. The entire Cathedral was packed during the service, and there were even people standing in the aisles and along the walls. Fortunately, we arrived early and had a place to sit. My favorite part was an immense organ that stood in the back of the church and produced a deep sound that would resound throughout the church. As far as church goes, I definitely prefer going to a more contemporary Christian church as opposed to a Catholic mass, but it was a worthwhile cultural experience and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to go.
Upon leaving the Cathedral, which is prominently located in the Plaza de Armas, I noticed that barricades were set up around the Plaza in preparation for a parade to celebrate Carnaval. Towards the end of February and beginning of March, Carnaval is celebrated in Peru and there were a big celebrations all around the country on Sunday. Carnaval is a time of celebration prior to Lent, forty days of discipline leading up to Easter. After mass, I stayed in the Plaza de Armas to watch the parade and participate in the festivities.
The Carnaval festival in the Plaza de Armas consisted of a parade of sorts with traditional dances from many different regions all around Cusco. I had a seat on the steps outside of the Cathedral and a stunning view of the dances.
Many of the dancers dress in elaborate tradition costumes, including colorful skirts and funny masks.
There were a TON of people at the festival, and the amount of people only increased as the day went on. The dancing exhibition and performances went on for hours. I sat and watched for about an hour and a half. When I grew tired of watching the dancers, I watched the people in the crowd, which was quite entertaining given that one of the most popular Carnvaval activities is playing with water. This involves squirt guns, water balloons, buckets of water, water bottles, and any other form of transporting and throwing water onto whoever might get in the way. Additionally, they also play with other things like foam or shaving cream, flour, and confetti. Fortunately, I was safe from most of the action in my seat in the crowd but had a perfect view to watch innocent spectators get doused by water.
It was a super nice, warm day in Cusco so it was pleasant to sit and watch ... for a while. Then the sun grew hot and was beating down on my neck so I decided to get up and walk around the Plaza for a bit of change of perspective. The crowd was massive and there were people milling around everywhere.
As I mentioned, no one is safe from the water games... myself included. When I first got up after watching the parade, I had walked for no more than 3 minutes when I was sprayed with foam. As I progressed, random people (usually boys...) proceeded to squirt the foam at me or spray me with water. I walked just one lap around the Plaza and by the time I was finished, I was nearly drenched and covered with foam. I ended up purchasing my own can of foam in order to defend myself and sought vengeance with a passion!
I was thankful that the weather was so nice because it actually felt nice to cool off with a bit (or a bucketful) of water. The foam saturated my clothes (which happened to be my church clothes since I went to the Carnaval straight from church...) and made my hair feel clammy and sticky. It still was absolutely worth it and I had a really good time.
One thing I found really interesting about the water games was that there people people of all ages who were playing. Of course there were many, many children, which is to be expected, but there were also parents, adults, grandparents, and people of literally all ages who played! I think it is a ton of fun that everyone likes to participate and have such child-like fun. No one (or at least most people) gets mad when they get sprayed in the face with foam or dumped on by a bucket of water because everyone realizes that that is a risk you have to take if you go to the festival.
After leaving the festival (although it was nowhere near to being over), my host family and I went out to dinner at a restaurant close to our house. We all had "Puchero," which is a traditional meal that is eaten around Carnaval. It consists of pork, corn, rice, sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, yucca, and more! It was a ton of food and very tasty!
Overall it was a really fun day and I am so thankful that I have been blessed with the opportunity to live in Peru and experience this wonderful, colorful culture!
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