Entrada por La Virgen de Urkupiña

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On Friday afternoon, we boarded a bus for Quillacolla, which is a suburb of Cochabamba. We went along with a number of other students from the school.

When we arrived, about 10 minutes later, it was hot and the streets were packed with vendors of all kinds. The bus driver dropped us off and said something about us having to go find our tickets for our seats. We wandered around, trying to follow a makeshift map, thinking we were looking for a house where our tickets would be. The parade had already started, and most streets were already blocked off. Hundreds of people were trying to cross at different points, the police were trying to direct people and stop people, and we were just plain confused!

After about 20 minutes, we managed to cross under some bleachers, but some of the group got separated. So we waited and got trapped on the other side of the parade. A few of the students were getting very upset! Our kids were getting a bit weary and we were wondering if we would miss some of the parade.

We finally found the place and realized, it wasn't a house, but a set of bleachers where a lady was selling seats by the side of the street. Geez, why couldn't we have been told that? (because that would have made it less exciting...). The bands were passing by, blaring music and boy it was loud and awesome! We got our tickets, and squeezed on the tight bleacher to sit and watch the parade.

Boy, it was quite the show. There were over 60 groups with 50 or so dancers or participants in each group. The route....4 km, and it was hot. Many of the dancers had beers or cups of chicha in hand along the way. As we sat, the woman behind us shared her chicken and chicha with us. Chicha in Santa Cruz is a drink made from rice or a grain and it's sweet. Everybody drinks it. But chicha in Cochabamba is red and fermented, so only the adults tasted! It flowed more readily than water, carried in sandbox buckets, shared with wooden dippers.

We watched the amazing parade for about 3 hours before we decided to head home. The chicha and cerveza were flowing and taking it's effects on many of the on-lookers, so we thought we'd take our kids back to Charo and Nelson's place. The parade still wasn't finished and the party hadn't even started....

The festival for the Virgen de Urkupiña happens every year for an entire weekend, and is quite the cultural show. We were glad to that we had the chance to go and see it.

For the official website on the dance groups and more information, click here