La Fiesta de La Tirina

Here's an entry that I didn't have a chance of posting while in Chile last week:

Chile's patron (or patroness) saint is the Virgin of Carmel and every July a huge festival takes place to honor her. But, due to the prevalence of the swine flu back in July, the town postponed the celebrations until early October.

Lucky for us, we just happened to be driving through the Pampa del Tamarugal (a vast plain in the Atacama desert) and stopped to check out the commotion. The guides let us roam for an hour, not nearly long enough to capture all the wild costumes and crazy music, but memorable just the same.

The 'Fiesta de La Tirana' is the most celebrated in Chile with upwards of 40,000 devotees singing and dancing for 24 hours for almost a full week. There are back-to-back activities performed including carrying the 'Our Lady of Mount Carmel' statue through the dusty town streets.