EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Eternally spring-like because of its proximity to tropical forest, guarding a major entrance to the jungle zone of Manu, PAUCARTAMBO ("The Village of the Flowers") is a pretty village some 110km from Cusco. A slave-driven silver-mining colony in the seventeeth and eighteeth centuries, it's at its best in the dry season between May and September, particularly in mid-July when the annual Fiesta de la Virgen de Carmen takes place; visitors arrive in their thousands and the village is transformed from a peaceful habitation into a huge mass of frenzied, costumed dancers.

The beautiful main plaza , with its white buildings and traditional blue balconies, has concrete monuments depicting the characters that perform at the fiesta - demon-masked dancers, malaria victims, lawyers, tourists and just about anything that grabs the imagination of the local communities. Also on the plaza is the rather splendid, austere church , restored in 1998 and full of large Cusqueña school paintings. More importantly, it's also the residence of the sacred image of the Virgen del Carmen, unusual in its Indian (rather than European) appearance: when the Pope visited Peru in the mid-1980s, it was loaded onto a truck and driven to within 30kms of Cusco, then processed on foot to the city centre so that the Pope could bless the image. Even if you don't make it here for the festival, you can still see the ruined chullpa burial towers at Machu Cruz, an hour's walk from Paucartambo; ask in the village for directions.

Transportes Gallinos de las Rocas buses (tel 277255) to Paucartambo leave daily from Avenida Manco Capac 105 at around 10am, plus at 3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 5am on Sundays ($2; a 4-5hr journey). Trucks , which leave from the end of Avenida Garcislaso, beyond the Ormeño office, are slightly cheaper but slower and far less comfortable. Buses generally stop off at the market place, from where you cross the stone bridge into the main part of town up to the plaza, where, during festival times only, there's a tourist information office. Whenever you go, it's best to take a tent, because accommodation is difficult to find: the only options are the Albergue Municipal (no phone; $5-10) and, by the lower bridge, the Hotel Quinta Rosa Marina (no phone; $5-10), both central and very basic. When the festival is on, they're fully booked, but many of the town people open their houses and it's possible to rent floor space sometimes.