Cusco: Procession of Joseph the Carpenter

Once again I got lucky. On my way home from an incredible, free, "thank you" meal at a steakhouse (provided by my bosses at Loki for our work over the holidays), our taxi got stuck in the middle of another procession. This one, for Joseph the Carpenter, was far bigger than the last one I chanced upon. 

           Block after block was filled with parades of costumed dancers, large bamboo frames of fireworks, and spectators drinking and eating at stall set up along the parade route. I dashed in with my camera to catch a few shots, but with the festivities lasting well into the night, I can only claim to have gotten a fraction on film. 

The crowd follows the procession up the steep hill, right outside my home and workplace, Loki Hostel.

                 I always marvel at how incredible how ancient Pagan culture in South America has seeped into solemn Catholic traditions.   Once again I got lucky. On my way home from an incredible, free, "thank you" meal at a steakhouse (provided by my bosses at Loki for our work over the holidays), our taxi got stuck in the middle of another procession. This one, for Joseph the Carpenter, was far bigger than the last one I chanced upon. 

           Block after block was filled with parades of costumed dancers, large bamboo frames of fireworks, and spectators drinking and eating at stall set up along the parade route. I dashed in with my camera to catch a few shots, but with the festivities lasting well into the night, I can only claim to have gotten a fraction on film, but please enjoy!

A dancer takes a break with his girl as they make their way up the hill.

Three dancers in bright costumes.

I gotta say I love the costumes, so many colors and so creative!

Girls representing Amazonian culture dance by me in their bright, feathered, costumes.

Jaguars, Eagles, and dancing Amazonian women oh my!

A man dressed as a Jaguar god takes a quick breather as the mask quickly heats up from his dancing.

The leader of the Amazonians controlling her group with a loud whistle and arm signals.

A dancer looks around for his phantom enemies. The dances are very dramatic, usually with the men acting out battle movements as part of it.

The street is clogged with dancers!

Eagle dancers.

I took this picture then I realized I was standing in the middle of a fireworks display... Oops.

The dancers twist and turn in the street, occasionally leaping in the air!

The parade stops in front of Jesus, but the dancing and festivities continue.

The large wooden statue of Jesus carrying the cross, which had to be lugged up some truly brutal stairs.

Incense burning at the foot of the statue of Jesus.

The beautiful costumes contain plenty of gold trimming and small mirrors sewn into the fabric.

A couple of dancers sit down at the end of the route to share a beer.

A woman looks on from her balcony above the celebration.

A church square along the route appears to have been the epicenter.

Mountain Biking to Morray and Maras

A farmer plows his fields with his oxen, the Andes towering over him, shrouded in mist as they stand like eternal sentinels over the fertile plains.

               Working in Loki is great. It has been an awesome experience, but it also has a way of sucking you in and you soon forget there is an outside world that doesn't consist of drunk Australians and blood bomb drinks. With this in mind, I booked myself a mountain biking tour (my haggling skills getting me such a low price that my guide was sullen with me all day haha). The tour was 5 hours along the rural area outside of Cusco, stopping at the archaeological site of Moray and the famous salt mines of Maras. Although the weather would be a gamble as it always is during the rainy season, I thought it would be good for the soul to get out a bit!
              We got our bikes and checked them out early in the morning, and everything looked fine. After everyone was ready, we hopped on and zipped downtown to hop on a collectivo bus out to the starting point... It was then, just too late, when I found that my back brakes did not work so well. By this I mean, I had to use all the force I had to get them to slow me at all, and complete stoppage was out of the question. Oh well. How important could rear brakes be when mountain biking in the worlds second highest mountain range?
We squeezed the 6 of us into a four seater taxi, roped our bikes to the roof, and 30 extremely uncomfortable minutes later we were dropped off at a fork in the road. With sunny weather, we started off through a small village before turning onto a country dirt road. It wound its way through beautiful green fields where children kept watch over flocks of grazing sheep and cattle. The rain caught up to us a bit and we sped up, getting to our first destination ahead of anything serious.
                We arrived at the Moray archaeological complex. In short, its a huge series of concentric rings cut into a natural bowl in the earth. Made by the Incans, it functioned as a laboratory to help create different strains of potatoes and corn by planting them at varying altitudes. We went down and walked a bit of the stoneworks, before climbing back up and heading off to the town of Maras.
          Maras is a small town famous for its proximity to the two sites I was touring... beyond that its nothing spectacular to behold. We stopped in the main square for a quick snack, before the rain caught up and pushed us onward again. We wound down the sides of a steep canyon until we caught our first glimpse of our second destination. The Maras salt mines.
              These mines were important to the Incans, who used the salt to cure meat before transporting it to their jungle strongholds like Macchu Picchu. Now, each family in Maras has a single plot from which they can harvest salt by diverting the salty water coming from the mountainside onto small plots where it forms pools. When the sun has done its work, a thick layer of pure salt is left behind. The families scrape this and sell it in town. After a quick tour and explanation we hopped back on our bikes and headed on down the canyon.
                     After crossing several streams the Urabamba river, we caught the main road to the town of Urabamba. From there we split the cost of a taxi, making it home just as the sun was setting over Cusco. It was a beautiful day full of adventure!

Many houses are still made with the traditional mud and straw materials with thatch or tile roofs.

Our biking group, the tour was all in Spanish.

The rain was chasing us all day, occasionally pelting us for a few minutes.

The lush grass is kept well trimmed in the bowl

Precarious steps jutting from the sides of the rings lead up and down.

Strange plants abound.

Old women wait to sell their hand made wares to passing tourists

Moray, the giant crop laboratory of the Incans. The concentric stone circles were used to create different strains of potatoes and corn by growing them at varying altitudes. Now there are thousands of variations, each with their own distinct properties.

The man plows while his wife and daughter wait in the fields for him.

A woman herding sheep through the fields, crossing the road towards better grazing.

We pause for a quick break, my guide at the lead.

The deep red earth stretches to a dramatic sky, bordered by lush green fields that are thriving from the rainy season's yearly inundation.

A vista well worth the grueling ride to the top of this hill.

I beat em up (to the top of the hill that is!). It was not an easy day for most of the group.

Our bikes parked in the town of Maras, home of the salt mine workers. We were pausing for a quick snack before heading down to the famous mines.

An old woman in a top hat sells us water and snacks.

The terraced salt mines of Maras. In Incan times there were about 20. Now there are over 3300. With salt selling for less than a Sol a kilo (about .30 USD), it makes for grueling work to get the heavy loads back out of the steep canyon.

An old woman takes a load of salt up on the backs of her donkeys. 

When the water evaporates in the dry season, the terraces are totally white with the layers of salt.

Snowcapped mountains surround us.

Our guide explains the purpose of the terraces and the functioning of the mines

The channel of salty warm water that feeds the mining activities here. They funnel it off into their individual plots then let the sun evaporate the water. This leaves pure white salt.

A beautiful old sign.. forgotten in the terminal of the bus station.

Cusco: A New Years Fit For A God (I Mean Loki, The Norse God of Mischief and Chaos)

The town begins to swell for the evening's festivities once the sun sets.

     The ground crunched as I shuffled across the patio, broken glass strewn amongst the glitter. A weak sun had begun to throw its light on the aftermath of our extravaganza. The bar staff formed a circle and laughed at the craziness of it all as we enjoyed the cold Trujillo beers that our manager Greg had bought us. What a New Years!
      Loki is not only the biggest hostel in South America, it is also world famous for throwing incredible parties, so naturally our New Years event was massive. The 300 room hostel was booked solid (some of the staff beds were even rented out for the night), and the guest list had an additional 300 people on it. Needless to say our venue was incredibly packed from about 8pm till 5am when the bar finally closed.
       We had tons of drinks, a fire works show, a fire show, incredible music, inside and outside drinking areas, free shots on the New Year of your country, and to cap it all off we offered free champagne and a place to watch the fireworks over the city of Cusco from wasteland out back of the hostel. Some people wanted to go to the main square but I had heard from my managers that it often gets really crowded. People get robbed. Latinos pee on you (honestly when they have had anything more than one beer, they pee anywhere). So I was quite content to stay working with my friends and make the night great for everyone.
       When we finally closed around 5 or 5:30, we wearily cleaned the bar as best we could before sharing a few new years drinks together in private... We finally made it out to the patio around 6, and to bed around 7:30 (at least I did). To be sure, it was one of the wildest and most fun New Years I have ever had, mainly because I had my incredible friends working beside me to make it so!
                    In a tribute, I want to thank my fellow staff, you guys made it what it was!

Colin our broken-footed Canadian getting wrapped up in a gold sheet by Iris since in Peru its good luck to wear yellow for New Years.

Ahhh confusion begins!

An airbrush artist drawing custom Loki shirts for guests.. this one features the signature, Blood Bomb drink.

Alan the hostel manager lighting the "Loki 2014" fire set... It was a great touch!

The flames engulf their fuel, 2014 is about to start!

The crowd goes wild in the firelight

The fireworks for 2014 over the main square, or Plaza de Armas as seen from our vantage behind the hostel

Somehow my face got painted by some latinas over the course of the night....

Loki had its own fireworks show to boot!

Jasmine, the beautiful reception manager, and I get silly as we watch the fireworks

Fire makes people dance... some people choose to do so in very tiny yellow underwear!

Ahhh yet another ruined picture by google! Thanks guys! This is the San Franciscan church seen from our hill that night.

Greg the bar manager and "Angry" Henry prep the free champagne for the countdown.

Beautiful fireworks over the city