This region is famous for a beef, karicuco (mechanical puppets) and ancient floats, so we made sure that we experienced all three. As luck would have it, we were in town the first morning of the spring two day festival, where huge floats are paraded through town to mark spring. Thousands of people descend on the region to catch a glimpse of these amazing floats being taken through town, and as expected it was all done in an orderly fashion. Roads were shut off and the crowds politely gathered to watch the floats being pushed and pulled through town. With mechanical puppets and people riding on the tops of the floats they made an incredible sight, and we were so lucky to see this, as it only happens four days each year.
We ate a lot of the famed Hida beef, in noodles soups and grilled on the BBQ, washed down with cool draught beer. It was real melt on your mouth meat and understandably a wonderful delicacy.
So to the third, the puppets. They have been a local tradition for over five hundred years. We headed to an amazing show that showcased all the puppets, from one that walked up steps, to one that was an acrobat! At one point a seated puppet was waiting to write and the curator asked for a volunteer and rachel offered me - so I had to stand by the puppet and it wrote a sign out, which was given to me once the paint dried. Never a dull moment!
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