Peru Guide
Around Cusco
Paucartambo
Eternally spring-like because of the combination of altitude and its proximity to tropical forest, and guarding a major entrance to the jungle zone of Manu, the pretty village of PAUCARTAMBO ("The Village of the Flowers") is located some 110km from Cusco in a wild and remote Andean region. A silver-mining colony, run by slave labour during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it's now a popular destination that's at its best in the dry season between May and September, particularly in mid-July when the annual Fiesta de la Virgen de Carmen takes place; thousands of visitors arrive and the village is transformed from a peaceful habitation into a huge mass of frenzied, costumed dancers. It features throngs of locals in distinctive traditional costumes, as well as dancers and musicians, with market stalls and a small fair springing up near the church.
The beautiful main plaza, with its white buildings and traditional blue balconies, has concrete monuments depicting the characters who perform at the fiesta – demon-masked dancers, malaria victims, lawyers and tourists. Also on the plaza is the rather austere iglesia, restored in 1998 and splendid in its own way, simple yet full of large Cusqueña paintings. It's also the residence of the sacred image of the Virgen del Carmen, unusual in its Indian (rather than European) appearance. Even if you don't make it to Paucartambo for the festival, you can still see the ruined chullpa burial towers at Machu Cruz, an hour's walk from Paucartambo; ask in the village for directions. Travellers rarely make it here outside of festival time, unless en route to the rainforest by road.
Transportes Gallitos de las Rocas buses leave from their Cusco office (Av Diagonal Angamos 1952; 
226895) daily to Paucartambo ($2.50; 4–5hr) and three times a week to Pilcopata. Trucks, which leave from the end of Avenida Garcilaso, beyond the Ormeño office, are slightly cheaper but slower and far less comfortable. Buses generally stop off in Paucartambo at the market place, from where you cross the stone bridge into the main part of town up to the plaza, where, during festival times only, there's a tourist information office. Whenever you go, it's best to take a tent, because accommodation is difficult to find: the only options are the Albergue Municipal (no phone; Price: $5-10) and, by the lower bridge, the Hotel Quinta Rosa Marina (no phone; Price: $10-15), both central and very basic. When the festival is on, they're fully booked, but it's possible to rent out spaces in some local residents' homes.