More Carnival: Our Neighborhood Party

Friday night, March 6, 2009, we heard crowds of people and a loud band playing just outside our door. We went out to investigate. It was another stewardship ("mayordomo") party for Carnavales. This one didn't involve colorful costumes, just a lot of people, noise, fireworks, and drinking. Here the big band plays their music:


People were dancing in the street, and soon a man invited Beverly to dance:


Soon Scott joined in the merriment:


The mayordoma (wife of the steward) passed around liquor, which we gracefully declined:

She begged us to drink, was offended that we wouldn't even take a sip, but then was satisfied when Beverly agreed to dance with her:

While people danced, a group of men built a fireworks castillo (castle) of bamboo:

We left the party around 11:00 pm, after talking with lots of people, dancing, and listening to the band. But we couldn't sleep with all the racket, so we stayed up until after midnight to watch the fireworks. Here people from all over the neighborhood assemble for the fireworks (these pictures were taken from the balcony of our house):

The fireworks began at the base of the castillo:

More fireworks:

The fireworks came in waves, with different types, colors and sounds . . .

. . . and finished with the grand finale:

When we chatted with people, we met the mayordomo y mayordoma. They were so friendly and kind. They invited us to all the events of their two-day holiday. Here's the cover of the invitation:

Cortamonte is translated "tree cut" (We're not sure what the term means). Here's the text of the invitation:

And here's the two-day program of festivities. It involves the band and fireworks on Friday night, and on Saturday, a breakfast, an activity and mass at the local church, a grand dinner, and the tree-cutting ceremony:

We would have been tempted to join in the activities, but we are involved in District Conference this Saturday. Besides, we would have been the only sober ones in the entire group. Living in Tarma is an unending series of adventures. And many of them occur right on our street.