Bailando Todo el Dia

For grammar class, we took to the streets of La Plaza de Armas to watch the festive dances. My Professor thought it was a good idea to get us out of the classroom for a little bit to watch the culture that was exploding all over Cuzco.

June is a huge month in Cuzco. It’s the month of the sun god, Inti Rami, and this year, on the 24^th, Cuzco will be having its huge festival dedicated to Inti Rami. However, every day of the month there is a different celebration that takes place leading up to the giant festival. All week we have been experiencing loud explosives in the street as a starter to the never-ending dancing performed by all school levels. From as early as 8 in the morning up until, literally, about 3-4am the next day, students from all over compete with each other in dancing Peruvian traditional dances. Judges include administrators and important leaders in the community and all dances tell of a historical event in Peruvian history.

I particularly loved the vigorous spirit and pride that spilled out into the street every morning. Of course, it was a pain getting to school because all the streets were closed and so we had to hike the gigantic hill to class every morning; once there, we were greeted by 3 sets of steep stairs. The hill is awful, and I dread it mostly because I come bearing my heavy laundry bag (the school does our laundry for free) and my chunky laptop. But the festivities and cheers that fluttered the air during class kind of made it worth it. Not to mention we have an amazing view of the mountains from school, especially at night.

After school we all pretty much just had lunch and tried to do some work in either McDonald’s or the school (wherever wifi was accessible). I was a day or two behind on turning in my third essay so I locked myself in a cubicle at school and decided to work up until it was time for the cooking class. I thought we we would be making Huaca Pallcuana (sp?) which I’m not too big of a fan of so I grabbed some McDonalds instead. However, when we all gathered at school for the cooking class (or more like watching a chef and some volunteers cook) I realized that wasn’t the dish we were making and I actually emptied my plate.

After dinner a lot of people were not in the mood to go out so I believe we all just went home and crashed again. I felt a little bad not taking advantage of the supposedly great night life in Cuzco but my body was still adjusting to the altitude and the fatigue was getting to me.