Carnaval de Negros y Blancos

Our road traveled to Pasto- 4 hours through the mountains.
(Guardrails optional!)

Where do we even begin? Arriving in Pasto for the Negros y Blancos festival was something else. It's really hard to sum up this experience in a blog post, but we shall try! 

Everything we read about Pasto as a destination was underwhelming- nothing to set this city apart, or reason to really stop off there on your way to the southern border- except from January 3rd-7^th, during the Carnaval. Finally we time ourselves right! 

Festival goers 

This festival is on the UNESCO list of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, and arose hundreds of years ago through influences of native Andean, Hispanic, and African traditions. Although there are various events through the week, the highlights are Jan 5^th and 6^th, Negros y Blancos days. From what we read, these celebrations have some roots in Andean agrarian cultures who danced to honour the moon and pray to the sun for protection of their crops. In later years, while the Spanish were repressing Indigenous tradition, practicing slavery, and being colonial you-know-whats, the African population was granted a “free” day on January 5 in the southern province. To join in the fiesta, non-black Pastonians would also paint their faces black to celebrate, as would non-whites on January 6^th for Blancos day.

Fast forward to today, all these traditions have mashed together in a crazy pandemonium of Colombians of all backgrounds running through the centre square with face paint, chalk, and spray foam in hand to cover each other in a plethora of colour and outright mess! We were really so unprepared for what was to come as we walked from our little Los Andes hotel (the city was fully booked, and our airbnb host was a flake!) to the square. On our way we passed food vendors with plastic wrap up around their stands to protect their food, and other vendors selling snowboard goggles and medical masks along with their typical sunglasses. It was only mid-afternoon, but the craziness had already begun, and there was no chance at only being a spectator. If you were on the street, in the square, walking by, young, old and everything in between you are fair game!   We got accosted with spray foam and face paint, and quickly realized we had to go back to get changed into some rattier clothes and arm ourselves. So back we came with ponchos bought off the street, with a couple of cans of spray foam and paint and joined in the melee, doing our best to retaliate against little gangs of kids, entire families, or groups of friends who found the touristas to be an easy target! It was so so much fun to be a part of, with music playing up on stage, and general chaos that lasted through the afternoon and well into the night on the streets. 

Main stage and festival grounds.
Spray cans were confiscated but some managed to get smuggled in! 

There was some great local music to be had on stage at two different town squares, one from an African band from the Colombian coast (Herencia de Timbiqui), and later some more traditional salsa music. At one point Brian and I were dancing together and were broken up by a little Colombian couple who paired us off between them to dance their way! (Working on it Cassi, haha!)

Snack break! Notice the white streets,
it was a battle zone

The next day continued much in the same fashion, except since this was Blancos day there was less face paint and more chalk (along with the spray foam of course) which was less fun at times when it ended up in your eyes or mouth. We were a little less into it this day, but it didn't really matter if we wanted to participate or not, because just walking anywhere in that 6 block radius meant we were going to be. Walking the streets after dark there were even people driving around in the back of pickups chalk-bombing pedestrians on the street!

The highlight of this day was the Carnaval parade. When the man at the hotel said 4 hours we thought we was exaggerating- but no, this was a serious parade! We went down to find a seat at 10am but people had already been there for hours to scope out the best seats. Vendors were walking the parade route selling snacks- chips, cotton candy, popcorn, corn on the cob, fried ants (apparently an aphrodisiac!), as well as stools to sit on, thank goodness. 

Cuy cuy accordionist

The parade came down our way shortly after 11, with dancers and musicians wearing beautiful bright leafy costumes and gorgeous face paint. On and on the spectacle came, with bands, mascots, and soon some of the most extravagant and over the top neon coloured floats you will ever see. Four hours was right, and even when the Rei (King) de Carnaval float came it still wasn't over! We were really floored at the talent of all of the people who put this celebration together- the creativity of the art, music, costume and props were incredible. Santa Claus parades back home are going to have to step up their game. ;)

                         

               

    

More crazy foam and chalk in the crowd

        

Poor guinea guineas!! :( 

January 7^th was the last day of the festivities, with the Festival del Cuy y la Cultura Campesina. The lady at the hotel told us that this would be a good idea to check out, that there were competitions where guinea pigs were judged for being the cutest, biggest, etc etc. Of course guinea pig, or Cuy as it's known here (Quetchua word for guineas given the sounds they make), is a typical dish, so we could have expected to find some being eaten- but we were again unprepared (surprise!) for what we were about to see. We took the bus into the outskirts of Pasto to a rural street which was lined for 6-7 blocks with tents on either side. The beginnings were mostly souvenirs, some fruits, desserts, and so on, but as we got further in there were also skinned guineas, skewered and roasting on spits. Stand after stand of poor little cuys! For the meat eaters out there we're told it tastes much like rabbit- and looks like one too. Since they're bred here for food they get much bigger than our pet guineas back home. Naturally we didn't try any...   a) vegetarians, b) Marco and Magellan. Of course it's a traditional food here for thousands of years, and it is a much more sustainable protein source than pork or beef (re: environmental impacts)- butttt oh how it still hurts my heart! There was a larger tent with live guineas, some long haired, short haired, big, small, babies- with people holding them and saying how cute they were. I'll never understand how you can say how cute something is and then go ahead and eat it later! But so it goes in the Andes, and off we went back to the city. Cuy festival- no gracias.

A surprise visit! 

Time to get to Ipiales, our final stop in Colombia, right on the border. Like most border towns, this place didn't have much to offer, other than the beautiful Las Lajas Cathedral in the countryside that was built in a gorge on the Guaitara River. We headed out by cab and spent a few hours walking through the little church built low in the gorge with an arch bridge to the other side. It was quite a beautiful sight, and so unusual to see such a building like this out on a river. Even the Pope was there!   We enjoyed the views from the gondola that we took back up to the main road, and then headed for the border. But more about that later...          Ecuador here we come!