Sunday 4th October 2015
I woke up early in Arica at the Sunny Days hostel, ready to head for the bus off to Putre. Ross prepared an awesome brekky for me in the morning. Here was the table and the surroundings, don`t you feel like at home looking at this shot? Much more cosy than any hostel hey.
Ross walked with me to the corner of the street, then I walked in a straight line to the bus station. Here was the counter which opened at 6.50am, 10 minutes before the bus was leaving, where I bought the ticket.
Waiting for the bus at door 3.
The first part of the bus ride was under a foggy sky.
Once we got above the fog though, it was a pretty nice thing to see this cloud just in the valley in which we had just been.
The landscape was similar to the Arequipa to Arica trip. Got to Putre 3 hours later, around 10am.
Zoom in on Putre, pretty small and quiet village located at 3,500m.
In my bus was a German couple, Daria and Thomas also staying at the Terrace Lodge. We walked together down to the hotel. They also had a blog, check it out here: dieweltvonhieraus.wordpress.com
I met with the parents, got the key to my room, dropped my bag, gave some laundry to wash and an hour later, we were off to the village of Socorama with Eduardo, the driver my parents had taken for a few days road-trip on the Chilean part.
Lanscape seen from the car during the ride.
Arriving at the village of Socoroma.
First we went to the local community hall where people were dancing on the sound of local bands.
What was interesting was to see the passing on from the old organisers of the event to the new organisers of the event. People were first given a small cup which they poured onto the different leaves on the table and then through the rest behind them, too bad if some people were nearby ahahaha.
Then they were given a bigger cup and threw a bit on the floor and then drunk the rest.
Then everyone headed to the church, the bands first.
The church
People formed a circle and were holding hands and dancing, turning together hand in hand.
The priest gave a speech in the church for a while. The village has about 30-40 inhabitants who live there all year long, but the rest of them, especially the youngest ones, moved to Arica mostly. Today was THE day where everyone was coming back to celebrate a religious yearly feast of the village and get the saints out. It also meant the preach was long. During that time, we had some snacks and also discovered this fruit.
It was not really ripe but Eduardo made us try the ones which were the most ripe. Can`t remember the name.
Then the procession got the saints out.
They walked through the streets.
They stopped at 4 corners of the village. At each corner, the priest gave a sermon / speech.
Kept going. This is after the third sermon, when everyone starts heading back to the church. What a pretty landscape they live in for the few ones still living there!
Women who were opening the walk were dressed really pretty, with their hair well arranged for the occasion.
Guitarist and banjo players.
Final sermon / speech.
Getting one of the saint inside the church. Tough work.
Back in the church.
Only 2 saints made it outside for a yearly walk. Most of them stayed inside.
All the music was traditional, awesome bands.
The priest giving a final sermon inside the church.
The incense and candle burnings next to the saints.
Outside of the church, an old man sitting. He really intrigued me.
Scene at the entrance of the church. The little boy was very joyful and kept playing and playing.
Pretty blue sky outside (what a change from Lima whohoho ;p) but shooting in the noon light was really tough was everything was so sharp and harsh. Really not a good time for photography.
More dancing outside of the church after the church final ceremony.
More photos of the village party here. Tap on the first photo and use the right arrow to go to the next shot.
We lefty around 4pm. Bye Socoroma, thanks for letting us attend your yearly religious ceremony, it was awesome to be a little mouse in the village life of a small village in Chile and being the only tourists too actually. Thank you!
We went back to the Terrace Lodge.
In front of the lodge was a military truck passing by. Putre is so close to the Bolivian border that a few military live there, training to be ready in case something happens at this border.
Sunset time in Putre, the mountain nearby became orange.
The shadow started growing on the nearby snowy mountain, located opposite the previous one.
Beautiful shapes
Sunset time. The sun disappeared really quickly!
Tomorrow, off to Lake Chungura, the highest lake in the world on which no boat goes!
Let`s go check it out in the Parque Lauca!
Pom explores 