Carnaval in Barranquilla - It's the real thing!

Visitors to Barranquilla will find that holy grail of travel experiences that everyone wants but seldom is actually found: Authenticity!

Barranquilla offers nearly nothing in the way of tourist sites, so what happens here is the real thing. Carnaval times turns the whole city into a big party, or more specifically, many parties happening at the same time all over, for several days in the row.  A the gay life is surprisingly alive!

We arrived on Thursday before "Fat Tuesday - Mardi Gras" which is called Carnaval here. Our day was meant to tour the local hotels for future reference for Vamos Colombia Tour, but it turned into a day long party - starting on the airplane! Avianca raffled off a prize to those with the best Carnaval gear and to those willing to dance up the aisle of the plane! (The free Whiskey and Rum helped!)

When we landed at the airport and picked up the luggage, there was a huge case of beer going around the luggage belt - we thought someone had sent it, but then realized that the bear company also sponsored the live music and group of dancing girls that greeted the arriving passengers. Clearly, the city is in a party mood. 

Then while visiting the hotels, we ran into a Carnival group practicing at one of the fanciest places (The Prado Hotel), complete with famous Vallenato musician Alfredo Gutierrez:

We ate at nice, but not expensive local restaurants, and then met a friend of Walter's who took us to see the local gay nightlight, and there was much to see! Here is just some of it (from gay bar/disco Studio 54):

Along the way, we met new friends too:

Followed by late dinner at 3am! 

And this is just the first day...

[more to come]

Interested in travel to Colombia? check out www.vamoscolombiatour.com