Barranquilla Carnival
On the 18th- 21st of February 2023, the city of Barranquilla shuts down for carnival. Three days of dancing, partying and drinking. I travelled to Barranquilla on the Sunday to see what it was all about.
Barranquilla carnival is UNESCO rated ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage’. I’m not exactly sure what that means. Still, there’s claims that the Barranquilla carnival is the biggest in the world outside of Brazil.
Living in Cartagena, a two and a half hour coach journey from Barranquilla, it felt like a mission to get to the carnival. The plan was to go without having to find any accommodation. We got up fairly early to go the transit station and getting the coach was fine. There was plenty of space on the bus with air conditioning. There was even in-journey entertainment. I would have liked to watch ‘how to be a Latin lover’ but forgot my headphones. The tickets were around $20,000 pesos each, each way. Booking fee included, tickets came out to around £4.
Cartagena’s bus terminal
Comfy, air-conditioned bus
A film I still need to watch
When we arrived in Barranquilla around 11:30 and the city still felt like it was sleeping from the night before. I was excited to see the carnival in action.
The carnival took place along Calle 40, a long stretch of road with makeshift stands assembled for spectators to get a good view. For admission, prices seemed up for negotiation. If you are at the carnival all weekend you can get discounted tickets. We ended up paying an event ‘official’ $30,000 pesos each for a ticket (around £5.20). I think you may be able to get tickets cheaper, but we were happy enough with the price and the event was starting.
Make sure to bring cash as no one accepts card.
The atmosphere was lively before the carnival came through and everyone was getting covered in foam. It seems like it's tradition for people to buy foam sprays and kids will sit in the stands just covering everyone. It’s funny and very cute.
If you are in the stands, there are several vendors selling drink and food. We bought a few beers and the price varied on the time of the day and where we bought them.
The fluctuating prices didn’t stop me enjoying a few cold beers as big groups came through. There was a range of ‘acts’, mostly celebrating the cultural heritage of different Colombian groups. There was the occasional political statement but being unaware of the background, it was difficult to understand what individual costumes were implying.
Some groups had great energy and would regularly interact with spectators. Carnival members let tourists take photos with their mask and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed.
The carnival went on for several hours and we saw a vast array of colours and heard a lot of the same flute being through the day- I think the flute is called a kuisi/kuizi. Similar vibes to a vuvuzela.
The whole carnival seemed safe and there was a large police presence so even if anything kicked off it would be shut down quickly.
At the end of the carnival, we headed down Calle 40 with a lot of the carnival participants. The atmosphere was electric and the streets were packed. After some wondering round trying to find some food, we were ready to head to the streets in search of some beers and dancing.
The first place we arrived at wanted 2,000,000 (£347) pesos for admission which was just crazy. The event looked cool- there was a DJ in an atrium area- but I’m not sure even the ticket seller was sure how much he was charging us. If he was even a ticket seller at all.
After some asking around, we heard that there was a street party going on at Calle 43 in El Porvenir. The information we got was spot on and the party was going hard as we turned up. The streets were full of people dancing.
Street sellers regularly came passed selling a kind of white powder- not the kind you think- and people would throw it up in the air coving everyone. Vendors also sold handheld fireworks that people were letting off into the night sky.
We booked a return bus for 5am on the Monday back to Cartagena so we partied and danced until around 4:15 then headed back to the transit station. By that time the party had started too thin out, and ended what was a great day.
