After searching and searching for a place to stay in Baranquilla, a large port city on the Caribbean that has little to no backpacker scene whatsoever (and therefore approx. 1.5 hostels), we managed to get set up with Mauricio from CouchSurfing.com. We knew very little about what this situation would be like before getting there, but knew it was our only options and if by some terrible turn of events our lives were in danger, we scoot our little butts outa there! But luckily this was not the case. We took a shuttle from Tagana with the Dutchies and their carnaval crew, and arrived at Mauricio´s house where his mom greeted us with a warm welcome and cute room with two double beds from our childhoods. Before meeting Mau´s mom we thought our Spanish was doing well, but she certainly put that thought to shame when she rattled off numerous questions to our dumbfoundment. Uhhhh, como? Lady can speak fast!! Oh yea, there was also a girl who lives there from Bogota and her name is LadyCruz (perhaps a future hip hop artist? No, simply a dental assistant).
Anywho, Mauricio came home from work and we all sat and got to know each other. He is about 21 and has studied in Buenos Aires and has converted to Judaism. Interesting. He also made our knowledge of Spanish obscelete because he mumbled more than we thought possible of a human being, making it difficult to understand most of what he said until he slowed in down, all the way down, until you can no longer categorize our interactions as conversations. But alas, he was eager to show us his hometown and what Carnaval had in store. His mother was also a highlight for us, feeding us huge Colombian lunches nearly everyday, and showing concern when we were going out just like our own parents. It was so wonderful to feel a sense of home so far away, especially after spending nearly two months hopping from hostel to hostel in more impersonal situations. She made us feel welcomed and cared for, which meant a great deal to us. Mauricio´s friend Salomon also joined us, a neighbor from down the street who returned just a couple months prior from Israel where he had joined the army and lived for 6 years. He was also extremely thrilled to show off Baranquilla and experience his first carnaval in a loooong time.
Night fell and we joined the sisters, the boarders, the mom, Salomon, and Mauricio to Calle 84, where there was a massive concert and party that only got denser as we approached. After a certain point we had to get out of the cab because there was no way we´d get through the crowd. Music is everywhere, just as much as the people are. Streets are flooded. This is the first night of Carnaval, people. Nobody is playing around. Although that´s all they´re doing really. Carnaval is just an excuse to let it all go and truly enjoy yourself. Don´t care about a thing, just dance, drink, and go nuts. I guess we´ll just have to follow suit.
Salomon, Mauricio and Sophisticated Koala wormed their way through a thick crowd to get to a spot at which we could sorta see the stage, but certainly be fully immersed in the scene. A few things we learned very quickly:
1) Spuma (or, espuma) is a thick white foam that looks like shaving creme but isn´t, that is sold every three inches in long cans that you shake, point and spray at your fellow celebrators. Everywhere. Eyes, nose and mouth primarily, hair, clothes and everywhere else is next. You DO NOT wear nice clothes to carnaval. This would be a bad decision!
2) Maizena is a corn flour of sorts that is sold in little boxes, also everywhere. When someone gets you with spuma, you retaliate with maizena, making them look like they´re an old person in a highschool production of Fiddler on the Roof. (N.B. Maizena is also great to throw at someone if they´ve been drenched in freezing cold water, really sealing in the water and powder as one splendid attack.)
3) Aguardiente. Hmmm. Tricky. This is the national liquor that smells like ouzo but goes down smoother, making it all the more dangerous. And just as the locals are generous with the two aforementioned traditions, they are also with their booze. (But responsibly so!!) Needless to say we weren´t missing any of these things after three days of partying.
The first night was a great introduction to Carnaval. We didn´t want to fully ruin the whole weekend so we opted to call it a night sooner rather than later (3am). The next day we arose expecting to get an early start on things, forgetting momentarily that this is just not the Latin way, and certainly not the Colombian way. Why would we leave early when we could just sit around and not? Silly us, silly New Yorkers. ¨Tranquilo, tranquilo¨ was a phrase we heard all too often while in Colombia. So we let go, gave in and relaxed. What´s the use in wonderfing when we were going when eventually (hopefully) we´d actually leave. We ate breakfast, then lunch, then had some drinks, until we were signaled it was go time. We strolled down to the parade site where we realized that without an uber expensive ticket into the stands it was next to impossible to see anything in the procession. Again, people were everywhere!! Defeated, although still feeling the energy of the place, we were introduced to an instant favorite - Raspao!!! I think the song Hallelujah played in the background over the cumbia and reggaeton! Shaved, crushed ice with berry cola syrup, topped with condensed milk (en espanol, leche condensado). If this was Kat, the entire blog would be an ode to raspao, therefore I had to do the honors to keep it on track. Thank you god of carnaval. Raspao is one of those cure-alls like chicken soup, only not actually good for your health, but rather your mentality...oh wait, I´m doing the Kat thing. I must stop myself. It´s great, amazing, love it!
Anyway...the night continued in a splendid way. We ended up going for a pit-stop to a cousin´s house which was nearby the end point of the parade, where we were finally able to see the floats and dancers. Madness!! There were famous singers who were belting out some over the ridiculously overplayed songs we´ve heard in our travels, actors and actresses from novelas, and the Aguila Girls (think SI models but for a cerveza company). This part of the parade had no baracades, no boundaries. The floats were turning off the main road, literally into the crowd and off into a parking lot. Basically we went from not being able to see a thing earlier in the day to nearly being run over by the damn floats. After dodging paper machey one too many times, we decided we had gotten our fill. We went to a little corner by Mauricio´s cousin´s house where there was a huge party and tons of locals and families just having a grand ole time, to music that of course was unnecessarily loud, even by outside standards. We danced and danced for hours, mastering the steps to salsa and merengue, only to have the music change instantly to something else that we then needed to pick up from scratch. We were troopers tho, and were applauded for our efforts and rewarded with...you guessed it! Aguardiente...help us please! It was spectacular and we loved every minute of it. What´s not to love?
Basically this went on for us for 3 days total, with resting during the day and party all night. We were lucky to have Emma join us for the second and third days, and we all just rested and walked about the city on Monday, the 4th. This was deemed a mandatory rest day due to too many people getting too out of hand after so much partying on the weekend. The memorable parts were the music and the sights of partiers and happy Colombians. After hearing so many horror stories before getting there about the fact that "All people get robbed during Carnaval" and "Oh, I heard a Spanish woman got shot there last week" we prepared for the worst. Although you cannot always believe what you hear, we were definitely on our toes. Even after the weekend we met people who had gone and did have bad experiences, leading us to believe that we were taken care of like queens by our Baranquillan tour guides. They wouldn´t let us walk ten feet without them, or order anything on our own for fear of us getting the precio gringo. They really cared about us not only having a great time but having a great impression of their city, people, and culture. Job well done because we had such a memorable experience and felt so lucky to be in their hands. We left Baranquilla with a solid hangover but with terrific stories and awesome pictures!!
La vida es Carnaval
Sophisticated Koala
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