Carnaval parades

Some photos from the carnaval parades, both in Cajamarca and Cajabamba… first, whether you're a parade participant or spectator, you'd better expect to get wet! Water balloons, squirt guns, etc. are all still fair game.

Cajamarca niños enjoying the carnaval spirit

These parades are all about the costumes of all kinds: colorful, typical, masked, animalistic, local, foreign, etc. etc. Each neighborhood, association, team, workplace, or any other kind of group gets organized to make and present their own costumes, so there's always a lot of variety.

Cajamarca - the tall hats are one of the typical carnaval costumes

Cajamarca

Cajamarca - a colorful and coordinated take on the traditional cajamarquino dress

Cajamarca

Cajabamba - workers of the agency that maintains the roads

Certain parades during carnavales also have car-drawn floats and reinas (teenage beauty queens) - this one's from Cajabamba

And of course, no carnaval event - even a family-friendly parade - would be complete without alcohol. In the first photo below, you can see a Cajamarca dad inviting a shrek-dressed parade participant to a glass of beer along the parade route.

Cajabamba town authorities (mayor plus several administrators) waiting for the parade to get moving again - the wine bottle they were passing around somehow escaped notice in this photo