Final Day of Carnaval Barranquilla - Videos and Pictures

The final day (Tuesday) of Mardi Gras is known for the funeral procession of "Joselito Carnaval" the representation of the Carnaval which is deceased (since it is the last day), and is then buried.  Of course it is a parade with dancing nonetheless. This one was right in the street and no fence so everyone can go right up the participants to dance, take pictures, or cry with the many "widows" of Joselito dressed in black (both beauty queens and drag queens) and parading. 

While this Carnaval does not have the topless women and the over the top costumes that the Rio Carnaval is known for, it clearly is a city- and country-wide event with many strong traditions that remain very much alive. For the non-Colombian visitor, it is chance to see live Cumbia, Mapale and other traditional dancing on a large scale, and hear live music of all kinds which is rare to find (live) outside of Colombia and never on this large of a scale. This is also a country of beauty which is very much on display in both the women and the men.  Interestingly, it is also a chance to see a somewhat fractured country come together for a large community-wide event, and of course a chance for a big party which is non-stop, all day and all night for 5 days in a row. 

Even Obama would not miss the festivities as he greets Walter and Vamos Colombia Tour!

The videos will give an idea of the non-stop dancing all the way down the many blocks of the parade. Check out the Mapale and the Afro-Caribbean dancing, and you will get an idea of where Shakira learned her moves! (One video here, the second in the next entry)

The partying, by the way, is famous here for the use of foam and fine white corn powder, both of which are sprayed on everyone when they are drinking, or just watching the parades. We managed to avoid it until the last night, when we found a group of friends of a friend, who quickly became our friends too, found a hoping bar with tables on the street, let go, had fun with everyone else!

Carnaval Barranquilla - Partying is Serious Business!

The Barranquilla Carnaval has three main parades, Sat, Sun and Mon. The parade route is lined with covered stands some which require purchased tickets and others open to the public (we got tickets ahead of time). You get there early for a good seat (we got front row on the corner which was best for pictures), and they have staff which will get you food and drinks as you like (alcohol included).

The first parade is a mix of dance groups, live bands (which even the dance groups have live music with them - seems like nearly everyone in Barranquilla is a musician or a dancer!), beauty queens (who also dance here, I might add), and outrageous costumes. The populations must work the rest of the year on creating the costumes and outfits - some of the dance groups have over 100 people, all with 

the same traditional clothing!

Here is just a sample of the range in the parade. As you can see, the parade is so au courant, even Obama made an appearance (3 times in fact - once with his whole family waiving at the crowd). 

The parade goes for many blocks and take several hours. Young, old, and everyone in between participates. And it is just the first of three days! Now that is a Colombian party!

For dinner we ate delicious Latin-Fusion cuisine that was worthy of California - but at less than 1/2 the price, complete with Martini de Coroso (a tart red tropical fruit only found here).  Of course we had to check out the gay night life, and each place was packed, with live music, live dancers and very alive drag queen performers. Que rico!