We left our hotels late at night to catch the short bus ride from Iquique to La Tirana. Carrie was very excited to go because we were going to see a catholic celebration. I would have been happy to spend more time in Iquique (or sleeping), but she insisted, so we went.
After we arrived in the parking lot of La Tirana's festival, we made our way through a huge mass of stalls selling rosaries, crucifixes, Jesus candles and various other items. Capitalism meets Catholiciscm and the result was rather terrifying, so we made our way to the main celebration.
It was certainly large and easy to find - there were huge crowds and many different performances. Various groups of dancers with costumes ranging from traditional Chilean dresses to shiny circus attire to native American outfits. We were particularly confused by a small group of dancers whose costumes were based of off native American clothing local to North America, which seemed out of place in South America and especially at a Christian festival, but the dances were interesting. The dancing was occasionally interrupted by (or simply interspersed with) lengthy 'hail mary' chants (or the Spanish equivalent) and sporadic fireworks. On the whole, it was basically Carnival with some extra Catholicism.
And it was cold. We eventually huddled with most of the crowds into the few buildings nearby, where young groups of children in identical outfits (boyscouts from different regions, perhaps?) paraded through with large banners. After watching a few more of these, we headed back to Iquique for the night. It was an interesting experience, but not one that I would suggest to anyone other than the very devout or rather bored. Next up: Bolivia!
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