The spaniards placed the image of jesus here, declaring it a place of christian miracle. All around the hundreds of bands from across the peruvian andes play in cacaphonic tribute to both traditions. The ice has nothing to do with Christianity. The Ukukos chip a piece of ice from the glacier. Some die in the process.
Death has a different meaning in the mountains.
Ukuko muerto no es llorado es celebrado. A death ukuko is not cried, is celebrated. I stand overlooking the church and the twirling dancers with my tent-mate, Vicente Revilla, a Peruvian, from Cuzco, married to an American and living in Brooklyn. He's a librarian by profession, a photographer and researcher by passion, trying to sort out this question of dual Andean identity. But it's a Catholic ritual by force.