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By Jim Kane - Guest Blogger.
I'm getting excited to head back to Peru in just a couple more weeks. One of my favorite folkloric festivals in all of South America takes place each July in the small town of Paucartambo, about 3 1/2 hours outside of Cusco. It's called the Virgen del Carmen festival and it fills the town for three days and nights with music, dancing, fantastic costumes and general revelry. I'm lucky to be attending for the third time this July 15th and 16th, and I certainly hope it's not the last.
Besides the festival, two more events are making me eager to return. First, I get to continue building on the more important local partnership I've ever developed in the four year since founding Culture Xplorers - hosting our 2nd annual CX Weavers Awards in Chinchero on July 14th.
This annual event, inaugurated last year, involves my wonderful local partner Nilda Callanaupa, as well as hundreds of indigenous weavers in six participating communities from across the Sacred Valley. They work for three months to submit a piece to the judges and compete not only for significant cash prizes, but also for the honor to represent their communities at our celebration ceremony in Chinchero.
There, the top three weavers from each community come to receive their medals, cash prizes, framed certificates of achievement and to share lunch, laughter and tears of joy with the visitors who have come from the U.S. and Europe to honor them
Finally, this July's trip will be unique for another reason. Dr. Charles (Chip) Stanish, a renowned archaeologist and one of the world's top experts on the ancient civilizations of the Andes, has agreed to spend a few days with me and our small group in the Lake Titicaca region of Peru and Bolivia. I can't imagine having a more amazing guide on the Island of the Sun, where Chip lived and worked for nearly two years!
Knock on wood that altitude sickness doesn't derail anyone, including me!
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