Carnaval con Carnavaleros

My second time going to the Carnaval party in Cajamarca was MUCH different from the first. 

Carnaval is a giant party, a week long, where everyone throws water on each other and sings songs called ¨coplas¨, which are short songs that repeat themselves and are usually sexual inuendos or jokes.  One day, there is a big party where people gather in the streets and play music while throwing water and paint all over each other.   That is the basic overview of what was one of the best weekends ever!

The first year I went to Cajamarca for Carnval, I was only there for three days and I spent the entire time with other volunteers going to bars and experiencing carnaval games in an American group style.  It was really fun, but not at all like what I experienced this time around. 

I spent an entire week in Cajamarca.  My favorite city in Perú.  I went a few days before Carnaval, and a Peruvian friend of mine, who lives in Lima but is from Cajamarca, generously offered his house for me and two of my girlfriends to stay.  There, we felt like we were in a family and were treated to breakfast and fun conversations every morning.  My first full day was Wednesday.  We went out into the hills of the countryside to visit a zoo that doubles as a dairy farm called Porcón.  I couldn´t believe they had lions and bears!  The next day, we went to a site called Cumbe Mayo, where there are ancient irrigation ditches that pre-date the Incas, a beautiful rock forest and spectacular views.  Another beautiful day in the countryside.  On Friday, the first night that would be a big party night, we went to the Baños del Inca, the Inca Baths, which are hot pools of water that the Incas used.  Now, you can pay an equivelent of $2 and get a private bathing room where you can sit in a tub of the hot sulfur water and relax for half an hour (plenty of time, trust me).  It was a wonderfully relaxing experience followed by a delicious ¨campestre¨ lunch in an open air restaurant with live carnaval music and sunshine.  Like the previous two days, we followed lunch with locally made ice cream made of local fruits.  Cajamarca is famous for its dairy production; cheese, yogurt, manjar blanco, you name it!  The ice cream was just as wonderful and like nothing I had experienced in Perú before. 

Friday night, my boyfriend Alfonso, who is also originally from Cajamarca had finally arrived.  He was one of the drummers of our soon to be marching band group, and we all got together in the evening to go to the main plaza.  In the plaza, the boys made music and sang coplas all night while us girls danced.  We gathered a pretty big crowd at some point, and dragged smiling ladies in to dance as well.  I started to learn a few of the coplas and sing along.  My favorite, of course, is called ¨Carolina¨ and starts out with the singer yelling ¨CAROLINA¨ and I made everyone laugh when I would answer ¨¿QUE?¨.

But Saturday was the most action packed day.  We woke up exhausted from staying up late the night before, but our excitement for what was to come made us rise early (that, and Alfonso yelling ¨¿Donde esta mi tarrola????¨).  We were all invited over to Alfonso´s house for breakfast, but it took us a while to get ourselves ready to go.  We put on old dirty clothes, found out recently purchased waterguns, and put some money and our phones in plastic bags in our pockets so that they wouldn´t get destroyed.  When we finally arrived to the party around 11am, everyone was already covered or covering themselves with paint and drinking beer.  We instantly joined in the party after first devouring a delicious chicken soup prepared by the Mom of the house for everyone to fuel us for the day.  We painted our faces and commenced drinking.  Soon, we were in a huge group in front of the house singing coplas and dancing around as we finished drinking with the family.  Then we started the march.  A 15 minute walk to the plaza turned into a 3 hour, slow paced, dancing/drinking/singing/playing strole through the city.  Water and paint were thrown at us from all directions and we skipped happily along with out giant group and personal marching band.  We reached the plaza in the late afternoon, where we found a place to park ourselves and continue the dancing and singing.  I can honestly say it was one of the most fun days I´ve had.

I don´t know when exactly we left, but somehow we ended back at home, took showers, naps and ate something, and then were magically drinking and laughing again before heading off to a much dryer round two in the plaza for more singing and dancing.

Who wouldn´t love carnaval???

It was a fantastic week, with wonderful friends and Peruvian families that opened their homes and hearts to us.  I had so much fun meeting new people and being party of such a happy, uplifting celebration of fun and sharing.  Thank you Cajamarca!