Back to fun and games...Barranquilla!

I stay in Barranquilla

I stay in Barranquilla

(In Barranquilla I stay)

- local song.

One of the huge benefits of the trip,  is we get to really experience the cultures we ride through, and the last few days have been nothing short of incredible.

Our friend May, who we had met in Bogota, actually lives in Barranquilla, so when we arrived, Troy immediately gave her a call.  Darren also has a friend from Toronto, Toni, who is in Barranquilla for a month, living with a local family.

We all met at a wonderful historic restaurant called La Cueva.

During the 1950's, prominent local Colombian writers and journalists met in La Cueva, and became known as the  Barranquilla Group.  Among the notables in the group were Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez, who wrote such classic novels as "100 years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera",  Álvaro Cepeda Samudio, Germán Vargas, and Alfonso Fuenmayor.

The restaurant is filled with books and photos from the time period, and they have a small cinema in the back, where we watched a short film highlighting the history of some of the men, and their ties to the restaurant.

After dinner, we made our way downtown to an impromptu pre-Carnival gathering.  

Barranquilla's Carnaval  takes place for four days preceding Ash Wednesday (March), but in the weeks and months preceding, they have small street parties where the bands practice and begin to ramp up the festivities.

The band was 5 or six people, playing drums and fluted instruments, on a raised circular platform in the street.  The people immediately surrounding them all danced in a clockwise motion around them, and then the crowd surrounded the dancers.  There was likely 600-800 people packed into the street corner.  Everyone was smiling and happy, and there didn't seem to be a lot of negative elements, although we were warned to be careful with our cameras and wallets.

In Latin America, we have come to learn why Carnaval is such a huge part of the cultural heritage of the people.

During the actual carnival, the city of Barranquilla's normal activities are paralyzed because the city is packed with street dances, musical and masquerade parades. 

Barranquilla's Carnival is reputed for being second in size to Rio's. The Barranquilla Carnival includes dances like the Spanish paloteo, African congo and indigenous mico y micas. Many styles of Colombian music are also performed, most prominently cumbia, and instruments include drums and wind ensembles. 

The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed by UNESCO, in November 2003, as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

After hanging out for a couple hours and dancing and watching people, we went to another dance hall, where they hold traditional Salsa dancing all night.  Here, our friends were very helpful in trying to teach Troy and I (Darren is a really good dancer, and needs no help) the basic Salsa moves.

My friend Kali is a wonderful salsa dancer, and she has tried many times over the last years to teach me Salsa.  Some of it I remember and can put to use, but I need to practice more.  I wish she was here as there are Salsa parties every night of the year, and EVERYONE here is an excellent Salsa dancer.  

About 2 hours into the night, another tradition (I don't know where this comes from), is they start taking out packets of Corn starch or Corn flour, and dousing each other in flour.  Funny.  :)

So, the locals at the table across from us, snuck up behind and dumped flour on our heads.

Troy, May and I

From L-R.  May's friend Deanna, Troy, Some funny looking guy in the background, May and Darren.

Supper at La Cueva.  

Deanna and Darren, Salsa dancing.

The flour comes out.

Our neighbours got dumped too.

The next day, we went to the Barranquilla Caribbean museum, where we learned more about the local culture and history of this amazing area.  Toni met us again, along with Yudis, who's family's house she is staying at.

Barranquilla Caribbean museum

Darren and the beautiful Yudis

Amazing Toni

At the museum

How do they walk, let alone dance in shoes like this?

Yudis brought her friends along, and we went Salsa dancing again.  :)  

EDIT:  March 2014:  So..  it turned out this night was destined to be the turning point in my life.  The beautiful girl in the middle of the picture above, is Vanessa, who is now my wife.    We met for the first time this night, a VERY special night in hindsight.  We went on our first date a few days after this, andover the next few months, I was flying back to Barranquilla (which you can read about in some of the other posts) to be with her.  We got her a passport, and after flying to Peru. we spent the next 5 ½ months riding the motorcycle together through Peru, Boliva and Chile.   After 2 years together, we were married in Barranquilla, Colombia, in front of 125 of her family and friends, along with my Parents, nephew and friends from Canada.  We've been together over 3 years now (married for over 1) and it has been the happiest time in my life.    Here is us at our wedding:

Now, on with the original BLOG...

Discussing the finer points of international relations and socio-economic realities in an evolve....  eh... maybe not.

Toni and Darren

If I can't figure out these salsa steps, I'll just wave my arms in the air.