Survived the Fiesta!

This past weekend and into the week have been really great. I had an awesome day at the clinic on Friday. I was working in the reception and triage area until a man came in and said he needed stitches. I wanted to get in on that action, so into the Topico room I went. There is a med student from U. of Minnesota here named John. He did the stitches. This man, I learned as I chatted to him while everyone was getting the sutures and stuff prepared, was cutting alfalfa in his fields and sliced a huge flap of his pinkie finger off. He then proceeded to RUN down to Ollanta from his field. It took him 3 hours!!! Can you imagine??? And he still was in a really talkative and good mood.

So stitching up his finger was a bit of a mess as he really had done a doozy on it. You could see tendon and bone. John did a great job. I had to maneuver myself around the man to hold a flashlight on the wound as the lighting in the Topico room is really bad. However, we got him all stitched up and made a splint for his finger. He was great. Immediately after we finished with him, a man (who was mute) came in with a nasty dog bite that had occurred on Wednesday but this was the first that he sought out medical care. We cleaned his wounds. Here, they use the white of an egg as a sealant for wounds. it actually works really well. However, we cleaned him up and his leg was really swollen due to infection. We got him some new bandages and antibiotics and sent him on his way.

The rest of the morning passed quickly as I was running the reception and triage by myself. I am proud at how good I have gotten with taking blood pressures here. The stethoscope sucks so that makes it hard and the people here have extremely low blood pressure so you will be listening for the first heartbeat sound and as it gets lower and lower, you think you have screwed it up, but lo and behold, you get your first *thump* around 80. Crazy!

Anyway, we took it easy on Friday knowing that Saturday was the beginning of the festival. Saturday was a bit low-key. We started drinking with lunch and then went out to the plaza to watch the procession of Senor de Choquekillka. All of the dance troupes were out there and everyone did a short dance. The costumes and music and dances are amazing. I took some pictures until it got too dark. We stayed out on the plaza all night just drinking and dancing and watching the dances.

I think I was still drunk on Sunday morning when I got up! I retrieved the Jello shots I had made and refrigerated at Ana and Celestino's. Then we started our mimosa power hour. That power hour was my downfall. We spent the rest of the morning wandering around town, watching the dances. Sunday was one of the biggest days of the fiesta. At lunch, we went to the cargo of the Copaq Negro dancers. A cargo is a private party.

Each dance group (remember, there are about 16) has a family that puts on the cargo for the year. Hosting a cargo is a massive feat. You pretty much feed all of the dancers and their friends and families all three meals for the 4 days as well as provide all of the beer. Here, a good cargo will set a family back $5000!!! For people who average a monthly income of $300 to $500, this is huge. But they all happily do this when it is their turn. So, we brought two crates of beer as our cargo-warming present and enjoyed lunch and the festivities with the Copaq Negros. The President of Awamaki Peru, Miguel, was the leader of this dance group. Also, our friends Raul and Porfi were dancers so it made sense for us to hang with them the whole time.

Hallie and I also got invited to the cargo of my host dad Celestino. So off we went to another party. Celestino was in "Los Majenos" dance group. They are really funny and are the drunks of the dances. They dress like cowboys (Peruvian cowboys) and carry bottles of beer around. At one point during the dance, they shake up the beer and open it onto the crowd. They are big crowd pleasers. The Copaq Negros tell the story of the slaves who worked for the Incans. All of the dances have masks so it is a bit unnerving to be walking around town with people talking to you and making comments but not knowing who they are due to the masks.

We danced from the Majenos cargo into the plaza with them. One of my friends got it on video. We were asked to dance with that group next year. They have 2 or 3 women who dance with them so that will be fun. Also, I will be living with Ana and Celestino again when I return next year and they are hosting the cargo so it will be a 4 day party at our house. I might as well be as much in the middle of it as I can.

Monday was a day of rest for me. I stayed out way too late on Sunday and never really stopped drinking or dancing so I needed a break. Hallie and I just took it easy. We watched some dances and ate a big salad then I was in bed early. Tuesday was the biggest day of the festival. It started with the dedication of the recently rebuilt chapel down by the river. There was a huge mass. Everyone went home for lunch and then back to the river for dancing and fireworks. There is this tradition where they hang a corn cob on a rope and all these people ride their horses under it and try to grab it. If you get it, you win some booze.

One of the scariest things about this fiesta is the fireworks. There are definitely no safety standards here as we all are standing within 25 feet of a man-made wooden structure with tons of fireworks set up all over it. You have to see it to realize just how crazy dangerous it is. One of my friends got some good photos of it.

Then we danced with the Copaq Negros up from the river and into town. We were wearing their hats and actually were videotaped by some tourist show in Bolivia. So I am on Bolivian tv somewhere! Then it was just more dancing and drinking into the night. I am sad that the festival is over. It really brings the town together.

I am happy that I will be here next year for it too. So now it is back to the grind. I have some volunteers coming (actually 2 are sisters from Indianapolis) within the next week and a half so I am busy organizing things for them. Hallie leaves one week from today. Crazy how time is flying. If you ever have a chance to visit Peru in May, make sure you enjoy at least a couple days of this festival in Ollantaytambo. It gets crazy but it is so neat to see the culture.