Fiesta de la Virgen de Carmen
Many fiestas re-enact colonial struggles, but few do so with the insane vibrancy of this celebration in Paucartambo, a pretty village in the rainforest of the Andean plateau. Black-masked Capaq Negro recall the African slaves who once worked the nearby silver mines, rainbow-jacketed, animal-headed dancers shake their way through the streets and sinister white-faced figures crack whips in a parody of the conquistadors' power.
TAGS: Paucartambo / Peru / South America