Happy Sunday. Carnival has arrived in the streets of Cuzco. It is a happy time. The streets are painted in traditional colors. The dance troupes of different organizations parade around the Plaza de Armas and dance in a contagious rhythm while intensely celebrating this day.
In the neighborhoods and streets everyone plays and enjoys Carnival through water play. The young people, including children, come together and get organized to go out with water balloons and water guns, or just buckets of water to stir up the streets where people are celebrating.
At midday all friends and families come together to enjoy the traditional Carnival lunch. Puchero is the main dish today. It is a delicacy made from lamb, vegetables, and boiled tubers and is served with a frutillada, chicha with strawberries.
After lunch comes the afternoon filled with yunzadas. Everyone dresses in colorful clothes, their faces painted in different colored flours, and with colored confetti in their hair and necks in order to dance around the yunza tree that is filled with presents. The groups and bands of musicians play beautiful carnival melodies.
All the while everyone is having a great time while drinking beer and chicha or frutillada. They dance and play with water until the tree falls and then run to get the gifts from the tree. During the rest of the week they will celebrate Carnival, waiting for its end next Sunday with the remate. That day Carnival will close and the celebration will be even more intense.
