A Gathering of Indigenous Mountain People

Friday, March 23, 2012
Urubamba, Sacred Valley, Peru
Following a couple of days in wonderful and peaceful Pisac, we boarded a combi on Friday morning headed west along the Rio Urubamba at the bottom of the Sacred Valley to Yucai, a small pueblo about 40 minutes away. After disembarking in Yucai, a charming and authentic place set amongst gorgeous mountains, we walked around with our backpacks for 90 minutes or so soaking up the sights and searching for a non existent hostal. We finally decided to flag down another combi and make our way to Urubamba, a larger city 10 minutes further down the road. By the time we got settled in, it was time for lunch.

Urubamba itself is not anything special and certainly does not have any historical significance, but the surrounding mountains are beautiful and it makes for a convenient location to base oneself to visit the nearby Moray ruins and the Salinas salt pans (more on these next time). We strolled around town a little bit after getting settled and, within 45 minutes or so, we wound up in Plaza de Armas where a fairly large gathering of hundreds of residents who had descended from various nearby indigenous Andean communities was taking place. Most of the women and many of the men were wearing their traditional, very colourful and intricately weaved and beaded handmade clothing attire, their various designs and colours representing their respective tribes or villages. We sat on the steps to one side of the central square's Cathedral, among many other indigenous people, many of whom were also seated in rows in the park itself facing the Cathedral, as the leader of the province spoke from a podium, set up on the top terrace immediately in front of the Cathedral’s main entrance, about the outcome of the various projects funded by the state to the extent of some $400 million last year to assist these people, mainly with regard to their nutritional, shelter and educational needs. The people were clearly very appreciative of his efforts and of the results. As his speech was coming to an end, a number of individuals made their way through the crowd with very large wooden trays containing sizeable styrofoam plates of hot meals that were distributed to all in attendance, including to the two of us. We were the only two foreigners present and we were somewhat uncomfortable with this … our first reaction was to graciously decline the food so that the local people could all be served. We were denied and therefore accepted and thoroughly enjoyed it. The people sitting in the park across from us had not yet been served when a young native boy, dressed in very dirty clothes and sporting a runny nose, hastily made his way across the plaza towards us and sat beside me on the steps. I immediately offered him my half finished chicken stew and rice which he gladly accepted and gobbled up within seconds. Nat had begun to eat the veggie part of her meal until we dumped the remainder of it in the boy’s empty plate. The political leader was still dishing out the words with lots of emotion, as most politicians seem capable of doing, when the same men then made their way through the crowd once again with garbage bags and sweepers … everything was so efficiently accomplished and cleaned up in no time at all. As the speech ended, a mellow kind of fiesta then took over, as natives from different villages wearing different garb mingled with each other, many sipping on chicha (a fermented maize drink), and lined up to thank and hug the political leader, also gently showering him with confetti on the top of his head. Towards the very end of the gathering, as it was starting to break up, and from a somewhat discreet location, I finally took out my camera and snapped a few pictures of these very expressive and colourful people only to discover later that my SD card was unfortunately not in the camera … but the memories of this afternoon will be with us for a long time as it was so special to witness such an event.
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