Lake Titicaca/Puno's Diablada and procession

Our stay in the Lake Titicaca area was timed so that we'd be in Puno, known as the folkloric capital of Peru, for the famed Diablada dance/procession.  A rather pale version of the Diablada can be found on youtube, if you're so inclined.  Puno is a festival town -- it's said that there are over 300 festivals and processions in the city annually, so it's not hard to include one during a visit.  The town of only 100K at 4000m elevation has a set of bleachers, which, while sort of flimsy, appear to be a permanent fixture in the town.  The dance takes place in the center of town and moves around the square.

Part of the reason processions and festivals are so plentiful and popular, I think, is that so many people take part in them.  There must be/have been a huge expenditure on costumes and their upkeep as the costumes were waaay over the top in quality, extravagance and plenitude.  Apparently lots of groups perform each of the dances (Puno's known for 10 specific dances).  We got to see high schoolers perform our Diablada (learned this by talking with folks afterwards, trying to understand) -- and the energy, the precision, the pride, the expertise were phenomenal.   The entire dance took about 2 hours.

Excellent bands of mixed ages lead the procession, and accompany sections of the dance, then move on.  I've come to think that different groups are likely sort of competitive, and clearly take great pride in their delivery of the dances -- I really couldn't explain the energy and joy that was apparent in the dance otherwise.   These were not bored performers performing for tourists.  Mostly the audience lining the streets was locals.  

Here's one of the bands that marched/strutted/swayed in, and hung around to play for a portion of the dance.  

The boots of many dance groups, boys and girls,  had these bells attached.  Oooh!  The stomping sounds!

These were very fluffy bear/ape creatures.  One group of many such beasts.

This is a group of male dancers stomping and  dancing in unison, most impressive.  The kid in front performed throughout the entire parade, mimicking moves, strutting, gestures, often interacting with the performers.  Everyone was fine with it.  He's not long for the sidelines.

This was the only female in pants in the entire dance and she did the stomping moves with one guy; all the other ladies were in showgirl sorts of costumes, mostly stomping, strutting, wiggling in impressive unison.

Typical ladies.

Watching.

More watchers.

The final group of the dance/procession was a cadre of riders in khaki uniforms mostly, and with beautiful and for the most part well-behaved and obedient horses.  They trotted, cantered, galloped, reared up on command - sweet.  One guy from town came galloping into the group at the end, sort of messing up their organized appearance -- seemed like a rogue rider, although folks seemed to know him and steered clear.  Wish I knew the backstory there.

The next day we saw a daytime procession, taking the religious figure, San Jose, for a walk.

Biggest kids in front, nice unison.

Middle sized, then smaller.

I'm pretty sure the boy in the lower right, is the same kid who was  "participating" from the sidelines in the parade from the night before.   Then the littlest kids, below, at the end of the lead part of the procession.

The only rose we saw.

Then the local dignitaries.

And San Jose, on a sky-blue tulle float, on his way to the main church.

It takes four to carry him.

San Jose went back home later in the day, with the same pageantry and procession.