Last night I decided I needed some more therapeutic dancing.
Usually in huititi you look for a partner to dance with, then you put on your
traditional dress and go add onto a column of people in he streets. Men on one
side opposite their partner on the other. Some groups even get together and
choreograph during the day to dance in unison during the evening parades. But,
I had weeding and washing to do during the day, so I just dressed up later and
found a group of women and Roxana and I partnered up in their line. We were
surrounded by cousins and friends. I didn’t want to be encumbered by my camera
so I have no photos of us dancing around together, but it was SO much fun. The
two leaders of our double line were pretty talented huititi dancers (one being
roxana’s half sister) so the rest of us followed their lead. We got a pretty
good group of ladies movin together.
The tradition on this day of the festival is for all the
different dance troops that have been formed throughout the day to go to the
top of a hill bordering the city with their marching band and dance up and down
the hill. It really was a beautiful thing to be a part of. All the locals
lovingly accepting me into their traditions, and allowing me to not have a care
in the world and just dance (that was until my back started hurting, how does
it just know when I am dancing?).
The electricity was out, so we ate with everyone at the top
of the hill but hurried back into town with a half drunk doña juana before
everything went pitch black.
Roxana and I took some of the neighbor girls back to their house and then got Doña Juana in bed, changed out of our heavy dresses, and decided we didn’t want to go to bed yet. We made an excuse that we needed to buy more candles and headed back to the streets only to be the witnesses to a theft. Most thefts happen during festivals. They say that there are these groups of thieves that travel town to town that is in fiesta and rob. Because, literally, everyone in town is in the plaza and drunk, it is easy to take advantage. In fact, the only time of year I actually lock my door when I leave the house is when the town is in fiesta. Roxana and I walked past a power line that was down. But, there was no obvious reason to the line being down. Because the electricity was out I picked it up and pulled it out of the middle of the road and told Roxana to never do what I was doing. Then she spotted the box from the pole the line was from and said, “someone is stealing here.” We went straight to the police station and by the time we got back with some officer friends the line and box were both gone and the officers started running around the dirt roads with their flashlights. How can someone from elsewhere really steal from this village? And if it is a local doing it, how can you steal from your own community?
Roxana and I took some of the neighbor girls back to their house and then got Doña Juana in bed, changed out of our heavy dresses, and decided we didn’t want to go to bed yet. We made an excuse that we needed to buy more candles and headed back to the streets only to be the witnesses to a theft. Most thefts happen during festivals. They say that there are these groups of thieves that travel town to town that is in fiesta and rob. Because, literally, everyone in town is in the plaza and drunk, it is easy to take advantage. In fact, the only time of year I actually lock my door when I leave the house is when the town is in fiesta. Roxana and I walked past a power line that was down. But, there was no obvious reason to the line being down. Because the electricity was out I picked it up and pulled it out of the middle of the road and told Roxana to never do what I was doing. Then she spotted the box from the pole the line was from and said, “someone is stealing here.” We went straight to the police station and by the time we got back with some officer friends the line and box were both gone and the officers started running around the dirt roads with their flashlights. How can someone from elsewhere really steal from this village? And if it is a local doing it, how can you steal from your own community?
I was surprisingly unfrightened by the whole thing, but Roxana
was not so unscathed. She insisted on going back to the house and cheking our
lines. Everything was fine. As I made us tea and snacks she sat with the
flashlight on the door to ensure no one was coming in, continually seeing
shadows that weren’t there.
Jess, this is a photo of me and two other peace corps volunteers in traditional colca dress last year at my birthday party...
Jess, this is a photo of me and two other peace corps volunteers in traditional colca dress last year at my birthday party...
You're life sounds so magical (even if this post did describe a theft). Parades, dirt roads, so foreign from the convenience and complacency of most of the US. What did your dress look like? I'm having trouble picturing a heavy dress, in my head you're wearing a 'dancing with the stars' costume. In the end, I don't see much difference between stealing from your own community and stealing from strangers- in the end we're all one race together. I guess the worst part of stealing from a neighbor is then looking them in the face, knowing you are partly responsible for any minor or major suffering, and not caring.
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