Peace Corps participant assistant Meredith Adhikari greets Issa Téssougué, a tailor from Sévaré, Mali.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Participant coordinator Laura Smith (center) and interns Alexa Silverman and Rachel Cohen await the participants at the hotel.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Smithsonian Folkways intern Jessie Vallejo and Colombia program intern Carolina Restrepo offer snacks to Colombian participants who arrived after 4 a.m.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Oumar Cissé (aka, Peace Corps Baba) of Farafina Tigne, an African bead museum in Mali.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Simbè Sankaré and Issa Téssougué, Peace Corps program participants from Sévaré, Mali.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Left to right: Returned Peace Corps volunteer Laura Lemunyete with Ngurunit Basket Weavers Group members Ngaharin Lebitileg, Lilian Nalilian Lekadaa, and Ntomulan Loibor.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Musicians from Grupo Cabrestero check in at the hotel.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Director Stephen Kidd waits at the hotel to greet arriving participants at 11:30 p.m., while artists from the Kyrgyz Republic make their way to the check-in area.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

Eileen Wayner, assistant to the director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, leads the Opika Performance Group from Ukraine.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

The Colombian participants get their first orientation to the Festival grounds.

Photo by Diana Bossa Bastidas

The first week of the Festival was great! We have had two days off to catch our breath, and we are preparing to jump into week two.

The Festival Participant Staff is the tireless team working non-stop to bring the participants here to D.C.; making their travel arrangements, orienting them to their new surroundings, and assisting them with their schedules and in-town transit.

Last week, Colombia participant assistant Diana Bossa Bastidas documented participant arrivals from sixteen different countries. She finally had a moment to put together this gallery and send us snippets of the staff's sentiments on the long-awaited participant arrivals.

Meredith Adhikari, Peace Corps participant assistant: “I'm really relieved everyone got here safely. It was such a long journey for many of them. It's so satisfying to see everyone teaching and learning at this very special event."

Diana Bossa Bastidas, Colombia participant assistant: “The tiredness disappeared as soon as the peak hours of arrival began. The last group of participants arrived shortly after 4 a.m. and after waking up from a short nap, I was working on adrenaline.”

Anna Kaplan, R&B participant assistant: “It was exciting. I am able to finally put faces to the names and voices with whom I've been communicating for months. I'm laughing a lot, too, because the R&B participants are HILARIOUS!"

Jeannette Lara, hotel coordinator: "Months, weeks, days, finally coming together. When our first group arrived from Ghana it was surreal. Their upbeat nature showed that they were just as excited. Finally they were here!"

Laura Smith, participant coordinator: "The arrival of participants from their respective countries is one of the most poignant moments of the Festival. Participant staff members are frequently among the first individuals that participants meet when they get to Washington, D.C. It's truly an honor to welcome them to the Smithsonian."