parade!

by mikka


above: school kids from town and from a more rural community. 

A few photos from the parade in honor of Ollantaytambo's town anniversary. It felt like pretty much everyone in the surrounding area turned out to hear the massively long speech in the plaza before marching in the three hour long parade. You wouldn't think a parade that just loops around the plaza would be capable of being three hours long, but you'd be wrong. I'm pretty sure I saw some people march twice. 













That's our host mom, Yoni! 






Awamaki and its affiliated staff, volunteers, homestay families and crafts people marched a triumphant last, three hours after the first groups started. I weaseled out of marching to take photos; I would have felt more guilty about this had I not spent four hours painstakingly making eight of these signs that you see them holding. I've never killed so many permanent markers in a single sitting, but I think they turned out OK? 



Also, there was an old lady proudly carrying this guinea pig! I have no idea why, but at the end of the parade she chucked it into a burlap sack and went home. Best! Parade! Ever!