Colombia: The Land of Sweat: Carnaval aka Where Did All These White People Come From?

Carnaval is a pretty big deal here in Barranquilla. And saying that is still a bit of an understatement. It's hard to describe how much people here care about Carnaval and how important an event it is for them. To put it in an American perspective, it would be similar to if Christmas, Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl, and Shark Week were all on the same four day weekend. So yeah, kind of a big deal. And it's not just the four days preceding the beginning of lent that it is celebrated. Events for Carnaval start sometime in mid-December and happen every weekend until the end of Carnaval. So by the end of Carnaval, I was glad it was over. A man can only take so much Cumbia and the same five songs that they play on the radio on repeat.

On the eve of Carnaval, many schools have a celebration at the school, where they usually have songs, dances, and elect kings and queens of each grade. I assume that it was because of my novelty that I was chosen as the King of Carnaval at the school. I was excited for this, because I had a few dance moves in my pocket that I was going to bust out Soul Train style and melt these kids faces off. They always play a music called Cumbia here for these types of events and it's not too hard, as a foreigner, to impress locals by learning a couple simple dance moves So I showed up to school the morning of, in my bright orange Carnaval shirt, ready to party. When I entered the school, I was greeted by some odd looks on many gloomy faces. My main counterpart told me that the student who had been diagnosed with Leukemia a week ago, stunningly still has Leukemia. "What?!? How can she still have Leukemia? You have been praying, right?" is what she expected me to say. When I didn't say that, she let me know that the principal, who is a nun, and not the cool flying kind, decided to cancel the school's Carnaval, and instead there would be an hour and a half long mass in the girls honor. Plus, I was told I was told that I need to change my shirt. What was I thinking wearing a bright orange shirt to a mass, you know, considering that the principal didn't tell anyone about the change in schedule until people arrived to the school. I felt bad for the parents that spent money on nice Carnaval costumes for their children only to have it cancelled at the last second. Now, don't think me insensitive. A few kind words and perhaps a moment of silence before the Carnaval celebration would have been perfect. I just believe cancelling this big celebration for this kids is a bit harsh, but hey, what do I know? I'm just a gringo.

With that said, the first day of Carnaval is great. Everybody drinks most of the day. There are parades, including a huge called Batalla de las Flores where, in order to see anything, you need to drop, from what I hear, the equivalent of 30-40 American dollars for a seat in the oppressing hot midday sun. So I caught some great views of the tops of peoples heads in the parade while I stood in the shade, drinking a nice cold beer, and watching people burst into flames in the bleachers.

A very rudimentary outline of Carnaval events consist of parades during the day and small concerts or drum circles at night. A note here, when I say drum circle, it is the exact opposite of drum circles that I, and perhaps you are familiar with. My experience with drum circles usually involved at least 10-20 people, each with their own drum, in a circle, and maybe a few people really "tasting the music" dancing in the center. Here, it refers to an event where there is a small band of about five drummers or less on a center stage, and over a hundred people dancing and doing their own thing around the outside.

An event that some friends and I frequented at night was called The Carnavalada. A city block was blocked off and they had a stage set up where various bands and acts performed all night. We went the first night where I was thrilled to see a band from Belgium to perform. You see, up until then, I had only been exposed to the three or four types of music popular in Barranquilla, every second of every day, whether I like it or not, since the day I arrived here. So this was a great change of pace. And they played great music. Kind of upbeat gypsy-ish. Similar to Devotchka or Gogol Bordello perhaps. It's a good thing there were so many foreigners there, because the locals probably would not have enjoyed it, because it is different.

Speaking of foreigners, I just couldn't grasp how many lighter skinned people there were. Barranquilla is quite homogenous in terms of people. Mostly darker skinned Colombians or even darker skinned Afro-Colombians. Needless to say, I usually stick out quite a bit when I make my way around town. During Carnaval, however, many tourists migrate in since it is the second biggest Carnaval outside the one in Brazil. Many of these tourists are from other, more southern South American countries such as Argentina and Chile. Occasionally I would start talking to a stranger that I was sure was Caucasian in English, only to be returned with a confused stare or confused Spanish. Whoops. Lost that round of "Caucasian or Argentinian."