Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Dubbed “the Pearl of the Andes" by nineteenth-century Italian naturalist Antonio Raimondi, the city of Tarma is an enchanted spot perched in the central highlands, riddled with narrow streets and fertile fields that take on a new lease of life, color and mysticism during the Easter Week festivities.

As the road begins the descent from the town of Las Vegas to the fertile valley that dazzled Raimondi, Tarma emerges as a vision. Nestling amongst the fresh green hills that shelter the town from the highland winds, the city hums with the bustle of the festival that moves through the streets and spills over into neighboring villages. Everyone is getting ready to celebrate Easter Week.

Tarma is a region of fertile lands, clear blue skies and a patchwork of cropfields which are gilded by the setting sun. Tarma lies to the northwest of the Mantaro Valley, just four hours from Lima. One can reach the city by the Central Highway, which runs up to the town of La Oroya, where visitors should take the detour that leads down to the lower jungle valley of Chanchamayo. Along this route, some 235 kilometers from the capital, lies Tarma.

 Local researcher Federico Phillips claims the city, the birthplace former President Manuel Odría, was founded on July 26, 1538 with the name Santa Ana. A year later, the town was occupied by 150 Spaniards, most of them from Seville, whose custom of carpeting the streets with flower petals during Easter Week was to become highly popular over the years.

The ancient settlers in this region were the Taramas, a minor tribe which for five centuries fought for domination of the valley with the Pumpus and the war-like Huancas, until all of them were subdued by the Incas. The terracing and ruins at Tarmatambo are a mute testimony to these ancient cultures, as well as the archaeological sites of Collapata, Murallapunta, Shoguemarca and Yanamarca.

The city of flowers

During the days prior to the procession, the valley fields fill with farmers and townsfolk who have come to pick the flowers that will be used to carpet the streets of Tarma. The districts of Chuchupampa, Mullucro and Huasqui grow flowers to be sold in the markets; while in the lands around the communities of Carhuacatac, Ayar and Pomachaca, the locals pick wildflowers. On Good Friday, the townfolk stage the procession of the Holy Sepulcher.

Tarma's main square fills up with some 5,000 people, many of them tourists who have come here from Lima and abroad. More than 75 neighborhoods, peasant farming communities, institutions and companies have taken part, putting together designs made from brightly-colored flower petals. Their combined efforts have produced one long carpet 850 meters long, thereby shattering last year's record.

On Saturday, it is time to visit some of the city's attractions, such as the Santa Ana Cathedral, built by President Odría and which now houses his tomb. The Chapel of the Señor de la Cárcel, which guards the relics of Santa Victoria, a wax image of a saint donated by Pope Pio IX. There is also the Hacienda La Florida, a plantation 15 minutes from Tarma, which inspired one of Peru's best-known novelist Julio Ramón Ribeyro to write the famous short story "Silvio en el Rosedal".

Acobamba was a festival

At sunset, hundreds of locals begin to elaborate new flower designs on the ground. They will spend the night in the street, waiting for the Dawn Mass and the Procession of Christ Reborn, shortly after dawn. Most of the tourists then head off to Acobamba, a district located 15 minutes from Tarma, site of the shrine of the Señor de Muruhuay, and where tonight the festivities will continue unbridled.

The main square has been taken by storm. Crowds of visitors from Lima ward off the cold with a glass or two of "calientito" (a blend of herbal tea and pisco grape brandy) and dance to the strains of technocumbia. Half-a-dozen folk bands will play through the night, while everyone awaits Easter Sunday surrounded by these works of art known as the "medias naranjas", a type of flowered arch that the procession will bless the following day.

The final procession of Christ

After midnight, everyone heads back to Tarma, where most of the flower designs have now been laid out. More than one local is beginning to show the effects of a little too much "calientito" -some sleep it off on the pavement, while others stagger around in the main square until the Santa Ana cathedral bells ring out, heralding the Dawn Mass.

Just before 6 a.m., the procession of the Christ Reborn sets off. Religious fervor is running high, and the people let their emotions flow. When the image of the Virgin is borne aloft on a litter in front of Town Hall, and the two images meet, the encounter unleashes an explosion of flower petals and tears; thousands of flower petals shower down on Mother and Child amidst the heaving crowd.

 When the figure of Christ Reborn is carried back to the Cathedral, the square turns into a gigantic swarm of the faithful who pack the streets. Shreds of color linger as a reminder of what had once been striking carpets of flower petals. The Acsamarca quarter is celebrating having been awarded first prize for its designs, an award that will be made official several hours later. The women pick up their tipsy husbands, the streetsweepers begin cleaning up after the procession.

Tarma, Pearl of the Andes, has survived Easter Week for another year