Dinner and dancing in Chugchilán

Last night was fairly quiet at the Cloud Forest Hostel. Only about 6 of us for dinner (including Patrick and myself), and not much else to speak of. But tonight, we had a massive crowd (most of which was YABFTG — yet another big French tour group), and an impressive traditional dance show, from a group of local little village girls. I guess that even here in Chugchilán, Friday night's a big one.

The dancing was fairly ordinary to begin with — just the usual funny little skips and hops in a line, and the obligatory whining highland music (on an incredibly scratched CD) — but then it got better. The little girls (most of whom looked to be about 10 years old) brought out a pole with 8 cords of cloth hanging off it, and they proceeded to plait the cords around the pole, by dancing in a weaving pattern! This was quite cool, and it actually looked quite hard — they must practice a lot, in order to be able to do it so flawlessly. Was even more impressive when — having plaited the entire length of the pole in cloth — they then danced in reverse, and undid the whole thing.