Paucartambo

After our whirlwind Incan tour we caught word of the Virgen de Carmen festival in the nearby town of Paucartambo. So we hopped a bus there understanding that because of the festival we might not be able to find a place to stay and might have to sleep outside. Luckily, Pilar befriended a couple from Lima who knew of some clandestine places to stay. When we arrived the town was already in a state of pandemonium. The streets were crowded with 18 different groups of parading dancers and musicians, each representing different aspects of the complicated religious proceedings.

We searched for some places and finally found a beautiful hacienda that had been converted into hostel by the wild-eyed, now-drunk owner. We were thankful to have a bed.

We went back into the streets and watched the proceedings for the next few hours.

Wild-costumes, crowd interference, dancing, and drunk spectators - a real festival.


We went back to the hostel where the owner and his kooky friends were getting shitfaced. The friends knew no bounds of personal space and were pressing us for interaction. Things continued to get stranger as they got more drunk. We left again for the square where an old couple invited us to dance with them - Pilar, of course, quickly picked up the correct steps I just did my "dance-in-circle" routine. Really genuine, fun people. Dangerous fireworks and LOTS of drinking.
We bumped into the crazy friends again who didn't want to let us leave, they explained how nice the hostel was because it was not only a hostel, it was, apparently, an informal sanitorium for the owner and his friends. That explained alot about the awkward happenings.

We returned to Cuzco the next day.