Q'eswachaka: the festival

The day following the completion of the bridge, thousands of folks come from neighboring communities (though they are not particularly close to the place nor to one another) for the festival. Music and dance and food and shopping are the attractions, though the principal event is the dance competition. Dozens of school groups compete, performing traditional folkloric dances to traditional folkloric music provided by their classmates. If you have ever been to a pow-wow in the States, you might have some idea of what it was like, though this seemed somehow more pure (at least compared to the pow-wow they do at BYU) and everyone was really into it. I loved it, and I could not get enough of all those brilliant colors. Again, I apologize for the sideways picture. I came really close to buying a skirt like hers, but I could not afford the price. When I left the booth without it, a little girl of about five or six years began following me, across the fairgrounds, up the hill, and down the road to our van, along the way pointing out all the pretty skirts that the girls around us were wearing, and chatting about other things as well. She was really cute, and her brief companionship left me with a nice memory to take with me from that beautiful place.