Colombia – Barranquilla Carnival

2020 FEBRUARY 21 —

Shortly before we left for Colombia, we were told about the Carnival in Barranquilla. It is the second largest folkloric Carnival in the world, second only to Rio in Brazil. Barranquilla is only two hours away from Cartagena. Although people buy tickets a year in advance for this, we were hoping to see and experience a taste of it. We were going to take a bus from Cartagena to Barranquilla. There were protests going on at the University, which was a few blocks from our guesthouse. Jorge insisted on taking us to the bus station himself. He said he did not trust for us to go by taxi with the protests so close. See more here: https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/anoldladywithabackpack.travel.blog/1200

We caught our bus to Barranquilla. We took a taxi to our guesthouse, where there was some confusion with the keys to let us in. Before too long, the owners arrived, very apologetic and all worked out just fine, in the end.

The owner’s son came by. He asked us to jump into his truck with him and he would show us where the street dancing was going on that night. On the way, we picked up his girlfriend, Lily, who spoke excellent English. She asked if we had tickets to any of the events, specifically, the parade. No, we did not. She called her sister, Gildi, who said she could find two seats for us; but they were $25 each. Considering I had read that people pay upwards of $200 for a seat, yeah, $25 was OK. We were given Gildi’s phone number and address with strict instructions to be at her house by 10:00 in the morning because the parade starts at 1:00. The parade is 6 hours long and in order to secure your seat, you had best be sitting in it early.

Having secured seats for the parade, they then took us to where one of the street parties were to be held. I did manage to get tickets to this event on line for $4 each. They dropped us off, wished us a good time, and said good-bye. We had no idea where we were, other than in the middle of a strange city, at the entrance to a massive street party. OK, just go with it! We were a bit early, and were turned away at the entrance gate so we decided to find some dinner. Unlike other places we had been to in Colombia, there were not cafes, restaurants, or street vendors for many blocks. Finally we found an outdoor eatery attached to a petrol station. It turned out that the food was horrible. It was the only time in our three week holiday that we had bad food.

Back at the entrance to the street party, there was a very long queue waiting to get in. Police on horseback stood at the ready. Since we had pre-purchased tickets, we were allowed through the fast lane. We were still very early, but it gave us a chance to have a look around. There was lots of people in costumes and on stilts. Some dancers had costumes that lit up and moved with them as they danced. It was a fantastic display after it got dark.

The people on stilts had banners that said EXIT, showing where the side streets and port-a-potties were. Others had big billboards strapped above themselves, advertising that they sold beer (3000 COP or $1). There were three or four stages set up with DJ’s blasting music so loud we could feel our chest vibrating. At the end of the street was the main stage with performers singing and their backup dancers putting on a show that would make any aerobics instructor jealous. There were regular couples dancing the salsa in front of the food vendors. One girl joined in with the lit up costumed guys and blew everyone away with her champeta dance. It was LOUD, there was lots of drinking, there was lots of dancing, there were more and more and more people!

We made an agreement to meet at a certain spot should we get separated. Finally, after a couple of hours, we found a side street, grabbed a taxi, and made our way back to the guesthouse. We had a great time, but at the end of the day, this was a young person’s party. Had we been 20 or 30 years old, we would have partied all night!

22 February – Saturday

Our host hailed a taxi for us. He said it would be cheaper than if we did it ourselves. He was right. It always cost us triple when we did it ourselves. We got to Gildi’s humble house a bit after 10:00. We used the bathroom before we left, wondering about toilet facilities in a throng of people for the next several hours. Her house was a short walk to the parade route. She ushered us to our plastic lawn chairs, along with her 3 children.

We were the third row back from the street barricades separating us from the parade itself. We could not have hoped for more excellent seats! They were incredible! There were giant floats getting last minute details taken care of right in front of us. Every float had its own power plant pulled behind it, to power the lights, music, and moving displays. There were people lingering about, waiting to climb into their wild costumes that lie on the ground a mere 2 metres away from our seats. The parade is 6 hours long, and we were seated about 2 hours from the start. A four hour parade was still 3 ½ hours longer than anything we’ve seen in Canada. Families began to arrive. Most of them were dressed in identical wild patterned shirts. If a kid got lost in the horde of people, just look for someone wearing the same kind of shirt.

We were under a canopy, shaded from the sun, but it was still getting hotter and hotter. We had brought our own water bottles and an umbrella, but were still leery to drink too much for fear of needing a bathroom. There were shops behind us that advertised toilets for a fee, and that was some comfort, but we weren’t sure how secure our seats would be. As the day wore on, and the sun moved so that we were not protected by the canopy, we drank our water, got more, drank that, and never once in 7 hours did we have to go to the toilet. Our bodies just sucked up whatever we drank down.

A custom at the parade is to spray foam into the crowd and then throw powder. Giant canisters were offered for sale before the parade started. It was like shaving foam, but dissipated really fast. It was actually kind of nice because it really cooled the skin. At first, people seemed shy to spray us; but after we accidentally got blasted and burst out laughing, we were fair game.

Vendors selling popsicles, fruit, water and beer would come by often. Gildi spoiled us with bottles of water, fried chicken, and fruit. There was nowhere to dispose of the garbage except to throw it on the ground. When we left, we were walking on a carpet of candy wrappers and beer cans. The cleanup crew was bringing up the back of the parade with shovels and garbage cans.

The Parade! Promptly at 1:00 pm the parade came to life! Everything and everyone at once. The floats blared music out of the 8-10 massive speakers that were stacked on the back. Once again, our chests vibrated in time to the music.

There are about 12,000 people in the parade. There were groups of hundreds of people following along. Each group depicted a different theme or a variation on the same theme. They were all dressed identical, men, women, and children alike, right down to their shoes. Some of the fancier costumes had women wearing high heels. I can’t imagine wearing heels in a 6 hour parade! There were Star Wars themes, Superhero, Cavemen, Animals, Demons, Ethnic, Traditional dancers, and many, many more.

There were, of course, the flashy, feathered, scantily dressed women – I think a lot were men by their sturdy build and faces. Most of the groups were also dancing in choreographed harmony.

The most iconic character depicted was Marimondo. He is a colorful and flamboyant character that is a mix of an elephant and a monkey, with a tie, long nose, big ears and big mouth. He generally has a whistle, too. Dozens of groups of hundreds of people were dressed as Marimondo. But not every group dressed the same. Each had its own predominate colour or pattern of clothing,

The floats carried the dignitaries such as the current Carnival Queen, the past Carnival Queen, Miss Colombia, Miss Earth, actors, singers, and other famous entertainers.

We didn’t recognize the names but the people around us went wild with cheering and clamoring to snap pictures. A lot of floats had bands playing. Again, most of them had the crowd going wild when they passed by. We were so close to the barricade that many of the characters would rush to the rail and pose for pictures with those people closest. Some would reach toward us further back.

It was the most festive experience I have ever had! As we left, Gildi asked if we would come back the next day for a new parade (there is a new one every day). We sadly said we had to return to Cartagena. She insisted that we were welcome to come again next year. At the time, I thought that I was glad I was there, but I doubt I would go again. At the time of this writing, I am changing my mind.

We had a hard time catching a taxi. I had the address handy on my phone, but they would shake their head, indicating it was too far. Finally, we got one who agreed to take us for 20,000 COP. When he dropped us off and I handed him the money, he insisted we agreed on 30,000. I had no choice but to cough it up. I have always said that all taxi drivers are crooks, and this just proved it once again.

We walked a few blocks from the guesthouse to a restaurant that the host had pointed out the day before. It was a burger place, but we were hot, tired and hungry and decided it was sufficient. The burgers were HUGE and messy! The waiter gave us disposable plastic gloves to eat with.

Everything was fine until a young woman came and stood beside our table. We thought she was waiting for a handout. We ignored her. She sat down, facing us, at the table right beside us, and stared at us like a dog waiting for a food scrap. It was weird and creepy. But then another fellow sat behind me and did the same thing. Then our waiter stood behind Ed and did the same thing. This was really freaking us out. I went to the bathroom and paid the bill as I passed the cash register. As I was returning to the table, I told Ed “Lets go!” under my breath. We were eating on the patio of the restaurant so we just scooted down the nearby steps and hightailed it out of there. It was the only time when I felt unsafe and kept looking back over my shoulder. Now this is the really weird part – they were serving staff at the restaurant!

23 February – Sunday

The next morning our hosts made us potato pancakes and coffee. We chatted with them while we ate. He told us about the narco-war days of Pablo Escobar (see more in the General Notes). They were nearly in tears when we said we had to leave. They were an elderly couple, and I think they enjoyed our company. He hailed a taxi for us, once again, and we headed back to the bus station.