fiesta de la virgen de la candelaria, puno

I'm not going to write a whole lot, but I just needed to put down something right now while I'm still gushing to myself about the titular festival, which is among the coolest things I've ever seen. And I'm only catching the tail end! I can't even describe it right now because this keyboard sucks and my hands are freezing and I'm too excited to slow my mind down to match my fingers. But fuck it, I'll have pictures up as soon as I get back to Stgo and will probably be a little calmer. I literally cannot stop smiling. Also, I had the most amazing drink tonight: red wine, pisco, orange juice, cinnamon and sugar, served steaming hot. Mmmm. Anyhow for now here's a link to some videos of the festival. Good lord, what a great day. I also took a boat ride out to some floating islands made entirely out of reeds and made friends with a hilarious group of women from Lima and Puno. Awesome, awesome, awesome.