I have to tell you something. It's very important that all of you pay attention. Please take out your calendars and mark the following days in 2013 as "MUST TRAVEL TO PERU" because you will NOT regret it.
What days? you ask... well, CARNAVAL OBVIOUSLY.
So for those of you who don't know, I was in Cajamarca the past few days, vacationing in this gorgeous department in celebration of Carnaval. Let me just tell you a few of the things I did in Cajamarca.
My first day there was spent simply relaxing, getting used to the climate (COLD, especially in comparison to my hot as hellfire site. I did not pack adequately for this weather, but managed to make do with what I brought). A few of the volunteers mentioned Cumbe Mayo to see the aqueducts and the bosque de piedras (rock forest). I figured, I'm not doing much else- of course I'll go!
Turned out to be the greatest decision ever.
 |
| The view as we get off the van to being our hike through Cumbe Mayo |
 |
| like Jurassic Park, yo. |
 |
| Rocks! So gorgeous.. |
This is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Peru. The rolling fog that would come and go added this hint of eerie splendor, and the absolute quiet (minus our laughing and chatting and exclamations of delight) was just awesome, in the truest sense of the word.
After much more hiking and fun, looking at a few rock carvings and aqueducts and more gorgeous (and very wonderfully cold) scenery, we left to head back to the capital city (for more pics, check out my fb page!)
That night was spent at a bar with other volunteers, wishing some of them happy birthdays, and then later at the plaza del armas, joining drinking circles and enjoying the general merriment.
The next day was PAINT DAY. I have no pictures to describe the insanity and absolute fun of this day, because my camera would have been destroyed by the gallons of paint and water that was being constantly flung throughout the day.
 |
| Here's the end of the paint parade though: hundreds mobbing the plaza del armas and swarming the historical landmark fountain. This was probably a bad idea, but gives you a hint of what the cray cray fray was like! |
Later that night, we went to celebrate one of our own's birthday! After not being able to find where anyone was, however, we went instead to an outdoor rave party and danced until morning. Literally. It was some of the greatest dancing I've ever done. Macarena a billion times? Enough times to convince a number of people on the ground (yes, we were on a fountain) that it was a legit dance they should be attempting throughout the night. Rodeo, elevator, cat walk, sprinkler, shopping cart, you name it- we danced it.
Next morning, I woke up with a voice that was just GONE from laughing and shouting from the night before. Thankfully, it was just parade day. There was a lot of water fights still going on, but we were out on the grass and just enjoying the sun and the atmosphere- until the dark, ominous clouds rolled in and the torrential rains came pouring down. Then it just got waaaaay cold.
Still, we continued to enjoy ourselves, eating and drinking and walking about for some elusive pizza.
Finally, I left to head back to site- but not without a lot of wishing that I could stay for just another day.
I'm now better prepared for Carnaval 2013 (what to wear, what to bring, how to get the right consistency of paint, etc.) and I really hope you just don't take my word for it. It really was a super fantastic awesome couple of days and definitely some that I am going to remember for the rest of my life.
Now I'm back in site, working again. My lil brosef will be visiting me for a few days (once the paro/bus strike ends down in Lima) and classes are going to start soon in March, so all my papers and plans need to be approved and put into some sort of order.
Until next time, dearest readers.
Peace and Love.
:D
ReplyDelete