CARNAVAL 2012, a Blur of a Weekend

Part of the group

“IM BACK!” I shouted in Spanish as I arrived at the bared in porch of my old family’s house in Barranquilla.  A minute later I was greeted by my old host uncle who looked really confused.  I guess my old host mom did not relay the message that I was coming back for Carnaval to all nine members of the family.  After a minute of a fairly awkward explanation of what I was doing at their house and the fact that I would be staying there for the next three days, it felt like I never left.  

Blackface/body costume (not considered racist here)

The reason I went to Barranquilla was to enjoy the second biggest Carnaval (Rio de Janeiro is home to the biggest) in the world.  If you are not sure of what Carnaval is just think of the party atmosphere and costumes of Mardi Gras with a Latin twist (i.e. great dancing, lost of body paint, and general anarchy).  Ever since I got the invitation to serve in Colombia and started doing research about the costal region, Barranquilla’s Carnaval began popping up everywhere on the internet.  It is in fact so important to the country that in 2003, UNESCO declared Baranquilla’s Carnaval to be a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.  Based on that information alone, I can not even begin to do justice to that weekend by explaining it in written word, but here goes nothing.

   This UNESCO masterpiece went far above and beyond anything that I could have ever imagined and ended up with me returning to the house at around 4am every night!  The first night we went to a live cumbia concert in a packed dirt lot.  It was there that I learned that at Carnaval it is tradition to get flower thrown in your face (look right) and get sprayed with foam out of huge ‘silly string’ canisters by complete strangers.  

The second day we went to the opening parade, la batalla de flores, where there were ornate floats and tons of dancers.  Also it was there that my camera ran out of batteries and I realized that I had left my charger at home.  However it turns out that it would not have mattered anyway because I am now at home and my camera is not taking a charge.  I think something is wrong with the battery.  So it may be a while before I can post any new pictures :( 

As I could literally write a book about this amazing experience, I will spare you all and describe the rest of the weekend in 10 words: sweat, loud music, dancing, friends, no sleep, street food, and beer (and does not count as a word)