Carnaval in Barranquilla

February 6, 2016

Carnaval in Barranquilla. Its known as the biggest party in South America aside from Rio, and it was my first disappointing adventure day I've had so far.

I had the first Saturday free, so I decided to bus to Barranquilla for the day and see what all the fuss was about.

When I got there, I had to find my way from the side of the highway where the bus dropped us. Just a couple questions though, and I was on a bus labeled Batalla de Flores (Battle of Flowers) which was the big parade.

Everywhere was bright colored, flowers, decorations, and more neon than Las Vegas. I followed the crowd once we were as close as the bus could get us. It took us down a couple streets and along a little back path next to a street under construction, and finally to the parade route.

Here's a not-very-good picture of some of the costumes around town.  It was like Halloween got drenched in neon.

I did carnaval in Ecuador three years ago (read that post here) so I was expecting big crowds, not a very good vantage point, and probably to get sprayed with foam at some point. I did find big crowds, was caught in a bit of foam crossfire, and had a terrible vantage point.

Foam attack

All along the parade route there were tents set up, and you had to pay to sit in the chairs there. Those saving money were all pressed in behind, and between the payers heads and the tent roof, there wasn't much to see.

Especially when everyone stood up, even though they had front row seats.

(The people next to me had cool hats, and I can't figure out how to make that flow with the rest of the post, sorry)

Sideways, clandestine photo

I got a couple glimpses of the parade.

And all of those glimpses included sparkles, sequins, and huge flowered headpieces

These ladies had my favorite outfits, all balck and gold.  You can see the giant flowers in their hair reasonably well in the picture too.

There were floats with costumed singers and dancers on top, but this is all I could see of them.

Eventually decided that I just wasn't having very much fun, especially with no one to share it with. So I decided to cut my losses, leave in the middle, and head back to Cartagena.

I got a meat and potato skewer from a street vendor, and fought the tide of humanity back to where buses were allowed. I lucked out and the first one I jumped on was indeed headed to the bus terminal. From there it was just a few hours of bus rides home, and there was a beautiful sunset along the way.

I saw fireworks in Cartagena while waiting for the metro to the old town too, which was fun.

Moral of the story: it didn't work out this time, but I'd love to go back to Barranquilla some day to do Carnaval properly, with more time there and someone to share it with.

Next up: sailing adventures in the Caribbean!