El Salvador will just have to wait, because I had one of the most ridiculous experiences of my life last night.
I'd heard there was a Carnival nearby, and told a few friends who were planning on going to let me know when they were leaving. I was thinking of a State Fair-type deal: fried food, thrill rides (sans safety inspections perhaps), booths with various types of amusements. I get a call at 6:08 that the group's heading out at 6:15. I scarf down the leftover lunch food on the stove, and head out with the group of 5 students plus a few host moms and Danfer, Daley's host brother extraordinaire, who takes care of us whenever we go out, apparently voluntarily.
We were told that the Carnival was "only three blocks away." And that's true. If you replace "the Carnival" with "the beginning of the area where all the masses of people were waiting to force their way through to where you could begin to see the Carnival kind of." Because this thing was massive. I'll be honest, I was a bit surprised that a city that hasn't figured out street signs yet managed to organize such a bangin' Carnaval.
And yes, that's CarnaVAL, not Carnival. Carnaval Alegría por la Vida, to be precise. Happiness for Life! It was a mile-long procession of unconstrained exuberance, with groups of folkloric dancers in really cool costumes, followed by the Monster Energy Drink float, followed by the Sardine girls float, followed by marching band-type deals, bordered by at least 10 stages representing everything from rum to radio stations that were all bleeding sound into each other. It was barely-constrained chaos.
After taking this all in for an hour and a half or so, we were headed back towards the Colonia when Daley waved at a woman on a float he recognized. Turns out she was a member of the small folkloric band that played at our Welcome to Nicaragua dinner our third or fourth night here. A few seconds later, Daley had bounded over the fence and joined the band on the largely empty float. The rest of us soon followed suit (me after taking a few moments to stew in insecurity before deciding to just go for it).
So there we were. 5 gringos (later 6) on a 18-wheeler sized truck float with a folkloric band, being trailed by 40ish traditionally-dressed Nicaraguans dancing an immaculately choreographed traditional dance. Those of you who have seen me dance know that I ain´t exactly Michael Jackson. But there we were, with tens of thousands of Managuans staring, laughing, and shouting at us, while we danced in no particular style, and certainly with no coordination. A few Nicaraguans joined us later, but the band pushed us to the front. Apparently, they wanted to use our gringo oddness to attract more viewers.
We stayed on the float for an hour and a half, slowly making our way past stages and temporary bars and various fast food vendors. A few guys threw us up a few Toñas (national beer of Nicaragua) and another passed us up shot. The Toñas we drank, but we stayed clear of the shots. And then there we were - in front of the TV cameras. They were really filming the folkloric dancers that trailed before us. But we still made it on Canal 10 for a few seconds. According to a host family watching back in la Colonia, we were announced and everything - "Mira los gringos!"
And then it was over. The truck drove past the end of the Carnaval route. We hugged and thanked the band, and hopped off. I drank the most beautiful ginger ale I've ever tasted, and then started the long, sweltering walk back home. And then I got up at 6:10 this morning to run with Josh and Tricia for the first time in ages. And it was awesome.
Oh, side note: I am in love with the fruit drinks my mom makes here. Mango, cantelope, passionfruit, orange, starfruit...they are just unbelievable. Thick and delicious and couldn't be fresher. I don't know how I'm going to go back to canned juice.
And photo cred to Jenni Schubert for the last two pics!
I'd heard there was a Carnival nearby, and told a few friends who were planning on going to let me know when they were leaving. I was thinking of a State Fair-type deal: fried food, thrill rides (sans safety inspections perhaps), booths with various types of amusements. I get a call at 6:08 that the group's heading out at 6:15. I scarf down the leftover lunch food on the stove, and head out with the group of 5 students plus a few host moms and Danfer, Daley's host brother extraordinaire, who takes care of us whenever we go out, apparently voluntarily.
We were told that the Carnival was "only three blocks away." And that's true. If you replace "the Carnival" with "the beginning of the area where all the masses of people were waiting to force their way through to where you could begin to see the Carnival kind of." Because this thing was massive. I'll be honest, I was a bit surprised that a city that hasn't figured out street signs yet managed to organize such a bangin' Carnaval.
And yes, that's CarnaVAL, not Carnival. Carnaval Alegría por la Vida, to be precise. Happiness for Life! It was a mile-long procession of unconstrained exuberance, with groups of folkloric dancers in really cool costumes, followed by the Monster Energy Drink float, followed by the Sardine girls float, followed by marching band-type deals, bordered by at least 10 stages representing everything from rum to radio stations that were all bleeding sound into each other. It was barely-constrained chaos.
The Sardine girls!
The Beer Angels!
After taking this all in for an hour and a half or so, we were headed back towards the Colonia when Daley waved at a woman on a float he recognized. Turns out she was a member of the small folkloric band that played at our Welcome to Nicaragua dinner our third or fourth night here. A few seconds later, Daley had bounded over the fence and joined the band on the largely empty float. The rest of us soon followed suit (me after taking a few moments to stew in insecurity before deciding to just go for it).
So there we were. 5 gringos (later 6) on a 18-wheeler sized truck float with a folkloric band, being trailed by 40ish traditionally-dressed Nicaraguans dancing an immaculately choreographed traditional dance. Those of you who have seen me dance know that I ain´t exactly Michael Jackson. But there we were, with tens of thousands of Managuans staring, laughing, and shouting at us, while we danced in no particular style, and certainly with no coordination. A few Nicaraguans joined us later, but the band pushed us to the front. Apparently, they wanted to use our gringo oddness to attract more viewers.
We stayed on the float for an hour and a half, slowly making our way past stages and temporary bars and various fast food vendors. A few guys threw us up a few Toñas (national beer of Nicaragua) and another passed us up shot. The Toñas we drank, but we stayed clear of the shots. And then there we were - in front of the TV cameras. They were really filming the folkloric dancers that trailed before us. But we still made it on Canal 10 for a few seconds. According to a host family watching back in la Colonia, we were announced and everything - "Mira los gringos!"
The dance we were ´promoting´ with our gringo magnetism.
And then it was over. The truck drove past the end of the Carnaval route. We hugged and thanked the band, and hopped off. I drank the most beautiful ginger ale I've ever tasted, and then started the long, sweltering walk back home. And then I got up at 6:10 this morning to run with Josh and Tricia for the first time in ages. And it was awesome.
Oh, side note: I am in love with the fruit drinks my mom makes here. Mango, cantelope, passionfruit, orange, starfruit...they are just unbelievable. Thick and delicious and couldn't be fresher. I don't know how I'm going to go back to canned juice.
And photo cred to Jenni Schubert for the last two pics!
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