Festival Week in Cartagena

Festival Week In Cartagena

Hi Hop & Jaunt Readers!

Alyson and I just returned to the hostel after a nice evening stroll through the streets of old Cartagena. I’ve never been in a city so alive with people. Even on a Sunday night the city is buzzing with activity. The city plazas are full with families, friends, and neighbors enjoying the cool night air, live music, dance, and food. Its an incredibly beautiful city, but even more so since Christmas decorations have gone up. We’ll soon write more about our day to day life here in Cartagena de Indias, but first we have some more photos from festival week as well as some important travel tips for would be tourists.

Cartagena’s Independence day falls on November 11,  the day when the city officially declared its independence from Spain in 1811. However, it was not until Simon Bolivar and his revolutionary troops crossed the Andes six years later that Cartagena was truly liberated from Spain. Simon Bolivar and his rag tag troops liberated the entire continent and is a hero across South America, much like how George Washington is to the US.  Now the holiday is a week long celebration that incorporates numerous parades and parties throughout the city.  It even coincides with the Miss Colombia Padgeant. 

The Independence Day parade runs through the maze like streets of the historic old town.  We decided to watch the festivities from the venue of Cartagenas famous wall with our friends Lily & Otto.  Below are a few of our favorite shots from the parade:

Nothing Like A Snowcone On A Hot Colombian Day

Acting Naturaly

Cartagena's Ancient Wall Is Front Row Seating Today

Finding a seat on the wall.

The parade begins

Lots of dancing and costumes.

Intricate costumes.

aaahh...its a King Cobra!

John, Aly, & Lily

all ages dance in the parade

Shakira's New Competition

a Colombian Mime. He was hilarious...for a mime.

Contestants For The Miss Colombia Padgeant

Dancing Queen

Look Closely....If You Dare

We Warned You!

Otto, Lily, & Alyson

For backpackers, cruisers, and travelers looking to visit Cartagena during the independence week festivities, we do have a few words of wisdom to offer.  Be aware that tourists are not exempt from the local traditions (of course).  This holiday week is a big event for Cartagenians and if you don’t want to play along, then you shouldn’t have come.  For example, there are bands of young boys roaming the city covered in oil and tar.  The game is much like trick or treat.  The gang of boys will block your path and demand you give them some coins or else they will smear you with oil and tar too.  Its really all in fun.  Just be sure to have a pocket full of change or wear some old clothes in case you run out.  For Alyson and I, it was a great opportunity to unload some of our left over coins from Grenada, Venezuela, Bonaire and Curacao.  (Just make sure they don’t notice you’re giving them Gilders instead of Pesos.) 

The boys look a little like this. If you refuse to pay the toll you could get covered in oil and tar too.

Another thing to be wary of is pick pockets.  We actually learned this lesson the hard way.  Street vendors at the festivites will sell a variety of toys, including cans of foam spray.  The foam spray is a favorite amongst the crowd for dousing friends, strangers, and parade marchers in a thick blanket of white, soapy, foam.  Getting covered is pretty much inevitable.  Your best option is to buy a can for yourself and join in the fun.  Here are a few photos of Alyson in an all out foam war. 

Foam Shootout! Alyson successfully thwarting an hombre's attempt to spray us.

I've been shot!

While the foam is a lot of fun, pick pockets will use it to their advantage.  In congested crowds, the thieves will catch you by surprise spraying the foam directly into your face.  Once you’re momentarily blinded, a second thief will bump you from behind and pick your pockets.  This is what happened with us and with several people we know.  Luckily though, we had left our wallets back on the boat and had only brought a small amount of money with us, which we seperated into separate pockets.  The pickpockets only made off with about 20,000 pesos or roughly $10 US dollars.  For us, it was a relatively inexpensive learning experience.  I was actually very impressed at how taleted the pickpockets were.  Definitely, they are masters in their trade.  One guy we know had both his pockets picked while he had his hands in them.  So if any of you ever plan on visiting Cartagena during festival week, you’ve had fair warning.

As you can see from some of the photos, we had a blast at the parades, not to mention the various after parties throughout the city that night.  Don’t let the warnings about pick pocketing turn you off on a trip to Colombia.  So far Cartegena has been one of the safest cities we’ve ever been to.  Just be aware of yourself and your surroundings.  Especially, during the busy tourist season. 

We hope you enjoyed seeing our photos and videos.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.  Keeping checking back, and we’ll keep writing.

Ciao!

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