Smithsonian Folk Life 2015: Peru

Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2015: Suckiest one ever. No fault of the subject; Peru, or the participants. It was just wildly truncated by a massive make-over of The Mall. The exhibits were extremely limited, the move to a new location was difficult to get to from the Metro. It was the most disappointing overall festival in the past 20 years. Sad. Having said that, here are some of my photos from today's visit.

 I suppose they were going to do something with this at point.  It wasn't clear and so it was just there.

 One musical performance.  I watched through two songs.  Never got info on what the music was about.  Usually there are 2 to three stages and dancing, too.

 Peruvian Artisan weaving a strip of fabric.

 Amazing ponchos.

 Design detail.

 Sources of dies.

 This is the number one die for all things red in the whole world. Artists have used it since the 19th century from Homer's watercolors to Van Gogh's oils. It makes red pop red and twizzlers, too! It's made from ground up beetles.

 Showing a young William Tell how to shoot an arrow?

 Ceramic arts and icons.

 An impromptu performance--again no context or description.

 I assume this placard is related to the structures below, but it wasn't clear.

 Another indigenous Peruvian artisan.

 Lovely moment, the two women on the right. One was blind and the other was describing the exhibits to her and guiding her to interact with them tactilely.

 There were three choices for food.  I chose Kikiriki because it was the most indigenous of the three.

 What would you choose?

I got the Papa Rellena and Inca Kola.  Delicious.