Meeting the Sirens

To celebrate Carnaval we travelled to Macha, a small town far away from any mayor centres in the north of Potosi. As we crossed this deserted and often bleak landscape suddenly groups of people would suddenly appear out of nowhere. These were the Sirens. Dressed in extremely colourful dress and playing pinkillu flutes they danced their way to houses where someone had died during the previous year. As this is the time in which flowers and fruits come to flourish, signs of new life, their task is to help the souls of the departed to the other world. The Sirens would start at about 3pm and travel all night as communities are far spread.