Candelaria, Really fast.

I know I'm way behind on posts, so for now, here's a small video about the Candelaria that can give you an idea of what it's like. Also, I'm there around the 5 minutes and 35 seconds marks, so you know, there is that special bonus. I promise soon you'll have updates.

Candelaria continued: To find a bandanna...

I am bald. There is no denying it. I am as bald as Mr. Clean. My father: also bald. Bald is no problem for me, I bick my head every few days and never worry about shampoo. Puno doesn't seem to like bald people. The altitude/sun/wind/crazy weather seems to take a dim view of baldies. So, when I decided I was going to dance for several hours in the elements, I decided that I needed a bandanna to put on my head.

This was a good idea, but it turned out to be difficult to execute.

You would think a bandanna would be easy to find. WRONG. I didn't search for one seriously in Arequipa because I thought (erroneously) that I could easily locate one in Puno. For those of you who have never been to Puno, there are some good placed to buy junk. My favorite is the "Mercado de Bellavista" which is located fairly close to the dock where everyone goes to the Uros and right below the LDS Church of Lampa.(Which is why I was so familiar with it). The other name for this market is "contrabando", which means "contraband"... (duh). Anywho, as the name implies, that is where you will find your chocolates, booze, clothes, electronics in a comfortably bootlegged fashion. It was there I finally found ONE place that sold large bandannas that I could use to cover my head. (It was silky and silver and black and amazing, but that's beside the point.) First, I went to the Mercado Central. No luck. If you are in Puno, you can buy cloth there and a lot of other things but not anything as cool as contrabando. Than I tried Jiron Los Incas (The Incas Street), where you can find EVERYTHING dance related. It's just below the Mercado central and I bought many a bell there, as I have previously mentioned. I spent about two hours looking for the bandanna, but it was worth it.

While I'm on the subject, for you tourists:
You will be tempted to buy things in the Parque Pino, which is connected to the Plaza de Armas (the main plaza) by Jiron Lima. There are lots of artisan things there like:alpaca products,instruments like quenas and zamponas, jewelry, etc.
DON'T BUY HERE.
Also, when you go to Los Uros, which you will undoubtedly want to do, you will see the same types of stores (by stores I mean open air shops packed together in lines)\ that I just mentioned.
DON'T BUY HERE EITHER. (Although if you have to choose between the Plaza and the Dock the dock is cheaper.

There is a daily Feria de Artisinia (artisan fair) in a uglier, less central part of Puno. It is here that you will be able to buy the exact same things for much less, and the people are generally more grateful because they are the true people from the outskirts whom well meaning tourists wish to help when they buy merchandise in the center.
BUY HERE.
Any Taxi- Moto Taxi- Trici can take you there in less than five minutes and you will be able to buy more stuff for your soles.

Candelaria Cont.- Bells and Ribbons.

As a guy who is new to dancing Saya, I didn't know what to do about the bells (cascaveles) that are attached to the boots. I asked one of the guides (the people who dance in front of the group that order which sequence etc) what to do for the attaching string. He suggested ilera (shoe strings). Well, his suggestion sucked and I lost about 8 out of my 24 bells. The next day, I thought I was brilliant and bought some heavy coated wire to attach each bell. Well, I was even more foolish than the day before because I lost a LOT of bells. In fact, I only had one attached at the end and about 6 that I had recovered as they fell and stuffed down my shirt. I had a stomach that jingled for several blocks of the dance unfortunately. It was Tio Walker (Uncle Walker) who knew what was up. Upon hearing my plight, he suggested fishing line. I thought this was silly, but I went and bought a heavy test and wrapped about 10 loopes for each boot. In addition, I put electrical tape on the eye of every single bell. Guess what? It worked, I didn't lose a single bell. I have to laugh because the first day I put on 24 bells, the second, 20, and on the last day, 16. I was losing faith and getting tired of spending 60 plus cents a bell. (I was buying the nice ones because I was keeping my suit.)In any event, now I know, and so do you. Fishing line. That's the ticket.

Journal Post, Observation # 5- Candelaria

Where have I been this last week you ask? Well, I will tell you. I have been in Puno, dancing way more than anyone should. Remember when I told you that I was going to do some dancing? Well, just a bit of back story. It is a bit complicated and in my opinion, kind of looney, but here goes. As far as I understand, there is a Virgin (miraculous appearance)in the Canary Islands and this Vigin was called Candelaria. Somehow, the same Virgin made an appearance in the mines in the Andean Highlands and now, every February, there is a huge festival to worship/celebrate/get super wasted. Now, I read a newspaper article here the other day that described this initial event in detail, but what most made me think is that the people of the regious (Aymara and Quechua) already worshiped a mother Earth figure and currently, they call the Virgin of the Candelaria "Mamacha Candelaria" or Mother Candelaria. Interesting, the splicing of pagan worship with Catholicism. Just my perspective. Anywho, nowadays, there is a rip roaring party for a week in which a LOT of people dance in intricate costumes and LOTS of musicians play (we're talking 50 people marching bands in abundance) and LOTS AND LOTS of BEER is consumed. My role in all of this had nothing to do with the Virgin,(which is a believe that I have always found silly) and nothing to do with getting stone drunk. My part in all of this was some intense dancing. For those of you who have never seen Saya, (or Caporales) dances, let me just say this. I have lost 14 pounds in the last two weeks. Yes, it is vigorous. And we are talking 4-5 hours daily dancing for 5 days straight. Yeah, it was quite a deal. There are many things I could write about Candelaria, and it will surely be the subject of many posts to come, but for today, I think I will cut this off with a picture.