Day Four - A most Peculiar Parade

Today started pretty laid-back. I packed my backpack for the trip, edited some photos and went to the city center to buy a warm jacket, I figured I can't go without. After going through all the shops that sell way overpriced North Face products (I love the brand, but in some shops they asked for twice as much as it would be online!) I finally found one with a variety of outdoor-clothes.

Afterwards I stopped by the market to buy another warm sweater, but got interrupted all of the sudden by a... parade?

Accompanied by drums and brass instruments, a crowd of masked people danced around the corner. They gathered at the market place, in the middle a man in a dress, wearing a black veil, handing out coca leaves to his entourage. The other men, and the kids, were wearing white knitted masks that only left their eyes uncovered. They reminded me of the anonymous-mask.
Also, besides the masks, they all wore traditional, colorful clothes, some had rectangular hats made out of beads and all kinds of decoration and, most peculiar: dead baby alpacas on their backs.

Every now and then they started dancing again, even to the soundtrack of the pink panther, apparently they waited on someone or something.
After a few minutes a car drove up and some assistants carried all sorts of things upstairs. A golden, embroidered fleece, a bunch of long strings made out of feathers, which later decorated a sarcophagus-like wooden cross.

Unfortunately none of the people watching the spectacle near me could explain what this was about.
I'll research it when I have the time when I'm back from the trail. It left me utterly confused, but I'm glad that I was at the right time at the right spot to witness this unique event.

Only after the crowd continued to dance down the street, I noticed there was a Michael Jackson-imitator right next to us as well. Equipped with some delicious churros from a street vendor (I kind of stopped being extremely cautious about the food, I'll let you know if that was a bad idea!) I stayed to watch him for a while, and over all the craziness in this place, I almost forgot the sweater.

I met up with a guide who informed me about the trek that I'll start tomorrow. I learned that I'm pretty screwed without a second backpack, but hey, I'll make it work somehow. I always do.

I'm beyond excited about this adventure!

Less excited to get up at 3.30 am. Yay.