A very Good Friday

I can easily say that yesterday was probably the most interesting Good Friday that I've ever experienced - rivaling the one that I spent in Albuquerque, NM. I was told that Holy Week here in Huancayo would offer some interesting experiences and so far I haven't been disappointed. Yesterday, Hannah and I had planned a morning of hiking near my house, but I was awoken by my host-dad about 40 minutes before Hannah was supposed to get there and he told me we needed to leave to go to my host-mom's sisters house for breakfast. Well, that hadn't been my plan, but I really didn't have much of a choice, as it's pretty hard to change my host dad's mind sometimes. So, once Hannah got to our house, we went to my host mom's sisters house and had a late breakfast and then spent some time near the river close to her house. It wasn't the morning of hiking we had expected, but it was relaxing nonetheless.



Our day began to get a lot more interesting around 1 in the afternoon when we went downtown to meet Duane and his family and go to Cochas for a festival in honor of Holy Week. When we got to the small town, it was a much different scene from the last time I visited, which I've already written an entry about. Gone was the quiet, small-town atmosphere that I had witnessed before, replaced my the hustle and bustle of tourists streaming in from all over the region and even from places as far away as Lima. The soccer field that I had viewed the small town justice which I had written about from my last visit was now turned into a parking lot for all of the visitors. We walked towards the municipal building from the main street and entered into the 'feria' which was in a field behind the building. At first glance it was very much like the 4-H county fair every year in Goshen, though on a much smaller scale. There were small kids rides, a stage with traditional "Wanka" music and dancing, some booths selling arts and crafts, and tons of food stands...much of it fried in traditional fair fashion. After walking around for a while, we stopped at a booth to eat a late lunch...and were faced with some tough choices on what to eat. There was pachamanca, which is a traditional dish cooked in a hole in the ground with hot stones to do the cooking, grilled trout, or cuy...which americans would more commonly know simply as guinea pig. As we were sitting there trying to decide between these typical, traditional dishes, I couldn't help but think that it was similar to being at a MCC Relief Sale. Well, seeing as I hadn't tried cuy yet, that's what I had to order, as did Hannah. It wasn't too bad, though the meat was a little hard to get to, and there wasn't much of it, and there was a little guinea pig head looking up at me and a paw hanging off my plate as well. Nonetheless I enjoyed it, and it filled me up for the next mission of our day.

After the feria, we walked across to the other side of Cochas to hike up to the cross which I'd already been to, and have already written about. And again, the scene was much different. There were lots of people coming and going up the path to reach the summit and see the view of Huancayo as well as the view of the cross. Interestingly, the cross has been all lit up at night this week, it isn't normally, so that's been a sweet sight from my roof at night. At the top of the hill there were also lots of people selling small crafts and knick-knacks and also people evangelizing...even one person promoting vegetarianism. After enjoying the view and snapping a few pictures, we headed back down to Cochas and then back to Huancayo central.

When we got to the Plaza de Armas of Huancayo, we encountered another Good Friday tradition, which was much different than what we had seen in Cochas. We stumbled upon a procession that was going on - which was happening on the two streets on each side of the cathedral. On one street a large casket with a figure of Jesus...complete with windows on the side so you could see the body...was being carried towards Calle Real, the main strett in Huancayo, and on the other street a large figure of the Virgin Mary was being carried towards Real. When each of the processions got to Calle Real they paused for a moment before turning onto Real so that they were facing each other. "They're going to meet in the center of the block," a woman in front of us informed us. Sure enough, the two processions started marching towards each other and when Jesus and the Virgin Mary were face to face, each statue bowed to one another, and then the joined forces and took the procession down Calle Real towards the municipal building.

As the procession moved on I decided to wander around downtown a bit. I walked ahead of the procession, which was moving very slowly, and admired the "alfombras," or carpets, which had been laid out on the road in the path of the procession. These alfombras were actually made of flower petals or colored sawdust, and they each formed pictures that represented the organizations that put each one together. I also walked along a side street where there have been food vendors lined up all week selling other traditional foods like "picarones," fried doughnut-esque delicasies, and "ponche de mani," a drink made of peanuts, milk and other spices and flavorings. Also all around downtown there were individuals selling "wa-wa" bread...wa-wa is Quechua for baby and the bread is a sweet bread with dried fruit and sesame seeds that is in the shape of a baby and represents the baby Jesus. I've actually eaten three of them this week, though to be honest I think they look a little more like an owl than a baby.

After a while walking around I decided to go into the cathedral, which was a very interesting experience. From the front of the cathedral all the way to the door there was a line waiting to touch a figure of Jesus set up on the stage. There were also many people sitting and praying, or standing at different figures around the side of the church praying and offering a candle. Inside the cathedral there was a very tranquil, calm feeling, especially compared to outside the cathedral. When I walked outside I was immediately struck by the difference in sound. There were kids shouting and playing with balloons, people were selling wa-wa bread or other foods, souveniers from Huancayo, and crosses and boquets of flowers made with palm leaves. Outside there was a very festive atmosphere and it also seemed to be a great opportunity for many people to make some money. Interestingly, I saw more baby carriages that night than I have in all my time in Huancayo (normally women carry their babies on their backs using a traditional large fabric as a type of sling/backpack), but they were being used to carry various things like hats, scarfs, or wa-wa bread that was to be sold.

Needless to say, the scene downtown on Friday night was very interesting and a very stark contrast to the festival in Cochas. It was interesting to see how the customs in each place celebrated the religious aspect of the holiday as well as many traditional parts of the local culture. As I said earlier, this was maybe the most interesting Good Friday that I've yet experienced...and today, Easter, was interesting as well. I won't go into much detail describing it, but just say that I went downtown early to see another procession of Jesus and the Virgin and then attended a mass before going to the evangelical church later that I've been attending here in Huancayo. Today it was interesting to see the difference between the Catholic and Evangelical traditions.

I could write a lot more about the past few days, but I think my description of Good Friday should be sufficient for now. I can't believe that I have less than two weeks left here in Huancayo, the time as really flown by. This week I have a full five days of work ahead of me, and I'll be trying to finish up my final project as well. Hannah and I are also trying to plan a trip to the jungle to visit two other GC students next weekend, so I'll keep you posted on what our plans are for that. I'll update you all again soon, and Happy Easter!