I went to Carnival in Barranquilla this year. It was my first Carnival/Mardi Gras experience. I have mostly avoided these types of things because I don’t like crowds and loathe parades. I know my orbit, but I planned a trip to Colombia that happened to fall over Carnival, so as the kids say YOLO.
The only line from David Foster Wallace I will ever quote is when he titled an essay, A supposedly fun thing I wouldn’t want to do again. Yeah, that’s the TLDR here. Before you go, you should know:
They sell things for people to throw on or spray at you. Wear clothes that you don’t plan to wear again until they have been washed.
Don’t buy a ticket before you go. I looked on-line and all I could find were 4 day passes that cost $200. Given that the basic premise is everything I hate (bonus: not crazy about religion either), I decided not to buy one and just wander for a while and be happy with that. When I got there, people were selling seats under tents near the end of the route for as low as $7 and closer to the middle for $16 (prices in USD).
That’s probably the most important things. Also, about 550,000 people show up (that’s what I read, I didn’t count). It is the second largest Carnival in Latin America. My experience was that the English-speaking world hasn’t discovered it yet. I found an article on Lonely Planet that did not place it among the eight best Carnivals in Latin America, so I think it is undiscovered.
So, it’s basically four days of parties and parades and some amount of pre-Carnival partying. I’m not much of a night owl, so I skipped all that, but there are ample opportunities for drinking and debauchery. I don’t think one needs to plan that in advance, Barranquilla is a party town. Having said all that, it is not a tourist town and not everyone speaks much English. You will need some Spanish skills to get around, though not much because my Spanish skills are horrible.
So, what happened at Carnival? I walked down from my hotel, roughly a 30 minute walk away and arrived around 10:30a because what I had read said it started at 11:30a. I ate some churros for about $1. It’s refreshing that vendors at Carnival are just street vendors and not trying to gouge everyone by charging $10. Of course they were not the freshest, but cinnamon, sugar and dulce de leche can bring anything to life. I ate an arepa filled with cheese. Pretty tasty and again about $1. I walked around a bit and people in these roped off tents started offering me seats. The tents were mostly empty and it was only 30 minutes until kickoff, so I finally did it. I spent $7, at that price I had a good view and wouldn’t feel bad about splitting early. Two hours later this parade I didn’t want to see hadn’t started yet, but the tent was full of Colombians — and me. I had a few beers for about $1 each. Then they broke at the spray soap (be aware they only sell it extra large cans.) Then talcum powder in several colors, I even saw a guy with a bottle of J&J Baby Powder. The guy who sold me my seat decided it was his mission to give me the full Colombian Carnival experience. He got me me involved in soap fights, had kids throwing powder on me, he even poured a beer over my head that I paid for. I don’t know whether I was friend of foil, but it was the most fun I have ever had at a parade.
Then, after about 3 hours I made an Irish exit and went back to my hotel. I took my clothes off and threw them in the shower. It should all wash out, but maybe not the hat. The $3 hat that I paid $8 for a few days ago, may be done for. This time I know it’s a $3 hat and I shouldn’t pay $8 for it. Considering I have paid around $50 for a similar hat in the US, hell maybe I will just pay $8.