El encontro de la Semana Santa

Tonight's the big night! This is the night that we heard the party goes until 2 or 3 in the morning partying in the streets, living the Catholic life :) We were prepared. Took naps after lunch in preparation for a late night. We got all ready and went to the plaza early to take pictures of the flower carpets before they were ruined. (Last night it rained so we decided to stay in the house than go out and watch the procession in the rain) We were hoping that it wouldn't rain again tonight. However we were not so lucky. As were were walking around it started to drizzle, except Millie (the Australian) was convinced that the drizzle was a complete downpour. I was teasing her that she would never be able to survive in Seattle if she thought this drizzle was serious. We decided to go to a restaurant that has a balcony that over looks the plaza, Via Via, to have a drink and wait out the rain and for the procession to reach the plaza. As we were sitting there enjoying our wonderful desert and drinks and the rain picked up and washed away all of the flower carpets. We kept asking our waiter if the procession would still happen in the rain and he assured us, while looking at us a little crazy, that of course it would.

We continued to wait and wait and wait

until around 9 p.m. the police truck drove around the plaza announcing over a loud speaker that the procession was postponed until 3 am the next morning. At this point it had been raining cats and dogs we made the decision to just try to go home and hopefully find a taxi that would take us. Funny story, we were not the only people that wanted taxis. There were no taxis to be found anywhere. We bit the bullet and ran home. Literally. Rolled up the pant legs

and crossed what use to be streets that were now rushing rivers and ran the 10 minutes home. Ayacucho doesn't have a storm drain system so when it rains like it did, the roads turn into rivers. A few of the girls were wearing their flip flops, lets just say that there were a few times when the Ayacuchan men were running down the street to retrieve one of the lost flip flops for the girls. We were quite the show to say the least. 6 gringas running through the streets

of Ayacucho, without rain coats, sopping wet and losing their shoes as they tried to cross the streets. The water was up to my knees on the larger streets, just sheer madness. I have never seen so much water in the middle of a city / had as much fun running home in my life.

Once we were home it was s

hower and warm pjs then to bed so that I could wake up at 4 am to go see the procession that I had heard so much about. We knew the procession was suppose to be at 3 am which in Peruvian time means it might start at 5am. So my roommate, Kate, and I made it to the plaza by 5 am. We made it to see the procession just in time and watch the meeting of Mary and Jesus. It was the most elaborate procession of all. Mary left from one church with all women following her then from the other side of the city Jesus left with all the male lawyers following him. There were then 2 smaller floats with Mary and Jesus that were waiting in the Plaza. Once the big Jesus and Mary arrived at the Plaza the smaller floats went to meet them. For the floats to meet the people who were carrying them had to make the floats bow, this means that the people in the front of the float had to kneel while carrying the float. Once the smaller Mary meet the larger Jesus and the smaller Jesus meet the larger Mary. The larger floats walked to the center and meet each other. I can see why this is the most popular procession of the week, it was lovely to watch.