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PAUCARTAMBO - ITS JULY FIESTA - AND TRES CRUCES

North-east of Cuzco, PAUCARTAMBO - the village of the Flowers - guards a major entrance to the jungle zone of Manu. Beyond, following the Kosnipata valley, the road continues through cloudy tropical mountain regions to the mission of SHINTUYA on the edge of the Manu National Park. Kosnipata - its name means "Valley of Smoke" - allegedly enchants anyone who drinks from its waters at paucartambo, drawing them to return again and again. But even without such magic paucartambo regularly attracts visitors by the thousand during the month of July, when it's transformed from a peaceful colonial village into one huge mass of frenzied costumed dancing

Eternally spring-like because of its proximity to the tropical forest, Paucartambo spends the first six months of every year preparing for the Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen. Usually taking place in mid-july, this energetic, almost hypnotic ritual continues for three full days. Many themes recur during the dances, but particularly memorable is one in which the dancers, wearing weird, brightly coloured costumes with grotesque blue-eyed masks, act out a parody of white man's powers. Malaria tends to be a central theme, being basically a post - Conquest problem: the participants portray an old man suffering its teriible agonies until a Western medic appears on the scene, with the inevitable hypodermic in his hand. When he manages to save the old man - a rare occurrence - it is usually due to an obvious and dramatic muddling of the prescriptions by his dancing medical assistants; cured by andean fate rather than medical science. Anyone who gets it together to go to Paucartambo for the fiesta will have a fascinanting few days. If you can't make this, there are some ruined chullpa burial towers at Machu Cruz, only one hour's walk away. At any time it's best to take a tent with you to Paucartambo where lodgings are difficult, though not impossible, to find.

Sunrise at res Cruces, particularly in the months of may and June, is in its own way as magnificent a spectacle as the Paucartambo festival. A site of pilgrimage since pre-Inca days, Tres Cruces is situated on the last mountain ridge before the eastern edge of the immense Amazon forest: at any time the view down (at night an enormous star studded jewel, by day a twisting jungle river system) is a marvel. Yet when the sun rises it's spectacle beyond words. Some 25 km down the road towards Shintuya, then left for another 20km, transport to Tres Cruces is rarely a problem. Cars and truck-loads of people frequently leave Paucartambo just to see this phenomenal drawn-out dawn, which can last as much as 3 or 4 hours.
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