CARNIVAL AND CARTAGENA

(Crossing Colombia Part 8)

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In Barranquilla, we found a large industrial town with no tourist attractions, except for Carnival. Carnival is all about parades, so we immediately went to see the main one. It was a crowded party with people spraying each other with shaving cream and water - mostly in a good natured fashion. However, pickpockets attempted to take advantage of the scene by spraying our faces with shaving cream while grabbing for Paul's wallet and Lois' camera bag. With Mark and Gerre's help, we fought them off and survived unscathed except for the shaving cream. Thanks very much to Mark and Gerre and Welcome to Barranquilla!

There were large stands overlooking the parade route, but we couldn't find any entry tickets for sale. We settled for trying to watch from various spots, but were far back and could not see much. We left, a bit disappointed, and returned to our hotel where the owner strongly urged us to try another, more local, parade. What a difference! We were almost a part of the parade. In fact, marchers stopped and posed for photos with people or danced with them. It was a great neighborhood party. This was what we came to Carnival for! Unfortunately, Paul let his euphoria get the best of him and drank WAY too much rum. He hereby formally apologizes to his travel companions for keeping them up while "worshipping the porcelain".

For our second and third days of Carnival, we got there early and bought tickets for the grandstand. Each section of the grandstand had its own clean, flushable port-a-johns, someone to get you food or drinks and a band that played prior to the start of the parade. We managed to get front row seats which were fantastic for seeing the dancing and the costumes, plus taking a few photos (500/day for Lois!).

Each group in the parade had its own unique costumes, choreographed dances and music. We saw fantastic dancers, both young and old. Some had flatbed trucks with generators, gigantic speakers and live bands or recorded music (reminiscent of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago). One group that stood out consisted of over five hundred people. First came mostly men, using rubber mallets on plastic garbage cans to create some great rhythms. The second group, mostly women, had empty two liter soda bottles that they used to complement the men's group. It was simple but very powerful, both visually and rhythmically.

Since we wanted to get good photos, we would yell to get people's attention. However, most of the women did not need much encouragement. They seemed to be looking for an opportunity to pose for photos; even the five year olds.

After the parades were over, there was some nighttime partying going on, but on a relatively small scale. We saw a few house parties and some bars with decent size crowds but it seemed like the parades were the major draw for most people.

After three days of Carnival, it was off to Cartagena for Lois and Paul while Mark and Gerre headed back to Taganga. On Gerre's advice, we stayed in the historic center of Cartagena instead of the nearby backpacker low rent district. With a little looking, we found a well located, clean, secure and comfortable hotel for $40 a night. An added bonus was a bakery and juice shop on the corner with made to order fruit plates and just out of the oven pastries for breakfast.

Cartagena reminded us of the French Quarter in New Orleans but, in our opinion, prettier. The narrow streets were lined with brick and stone buildings that had wooden balconies, often overflowing with flowering bushes. There were a number of quiet, green, little plazas to sit in and watch the world go by (one of Paul's favorite activities). The fort walls surrounding the city, while not in the same condition as those in Mexico or Cuba still provided a nice vantage point to see both the surrounding water and the city.

Mark and Gerre returned to Cartagena for the final two days of our Colombian vacation and we took a day trip to Playa Blanca. The one hour boat ride on open seas was a little rough but still fun with some nice views. The beach itself was gorgeous. Getting off the boat was an adventure. There was no dock; we timed our jump with the waves and hoped not to get too wet. We rented a little palapa with four lounge chairs for five dollars and spent the day relaxing. The turquoise water was calm and warm. Although there were a lot of vendors who did not seem to understand the word "no", we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Playa Blanca was probably the best all around beach we visited in Colombia.

The next day, we said our goodbyes to Mark and Gerre, who we really enjoyed travelling with and returned to good old cold Northern Virginia. On reflection, we found Colombia to be relatively easy and comfortable to travel through with truly warm and welcoming people. We enjoyed a wide variety of activities including hiking, swimming, rafting, sightseeing, eating, drinking etc. As usual, we didn't cover as much ground as we had hoped. Without a doubt, we can highly recommend Colombia as a travel destination. This was our ninth two month trip and we are headed to the Philippines for number ten. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed it.

Notes on Colombia