Carnaval in Veracruz, according to my incredibly reliable sources, is the 2nd best Carnaval in Latin America after Brazil. So we headed there last weekend to continue our exploration of Mexico and to Carnaval it up. Before even coming to Mexico, I had heard that people from Veracruz are a lot more like Cubans than Mexicans and the week before Carnaval I heard a lot of stories about the happy and festive Veracruzano spirit (before having to sit through the obligatory "don't get shot" warning people always give).
According to Wikipedia:
Veracruz’s status as a port has made the city a blend of cultures, mostly indigenous, Spanish and Afro-Cuban. The influence of these three is best seen in the food and music of the area, which has strong Spanish, Caribbean and African influences.
We were definitely able to see those influences and the differences between Mexico City and Veracruz; differences I think manifested themselves mostly in the music and dance. People in Veracruz bump Reggaeton, Salsa, Merengue and Bachata everywhere. In front of convenience stores, pharmacies, restaurants, ice cream shops. It was just one huge party city. Somehow I don't think it was just a Carnaval thing. I really think these Veracruzanos just know how to get down.
It was definitely one incredibly hectic trip that was also in some ways really emotionally charged. In the midst of all the romping around like crazies, there was actually a strange amount of significance to this trip. Little things here and there would pop up that in the grand scheme are probably just coincidences, but I'd like to take them as a head nod from life to remind me to cherish the people and places that have been a part of my life, to enjoy the ones I have now, and to get excited for those to come.
It was definitely one incredibly hectic trip that was also in some ways really emotionally charged. In the midst of all the romping around like crazies, there was actually a strange amount of significance to this trip. Little things here and there would pop up that in the grand scheme are probably just coincidences, but I'd like to take them as a head nod from life to remind me to cherish the people and places that have been a part of my life, to enjoy the ones I have now, and to get excited for those to come.
I'll break down the trip so you can see some examples of these head-nods and get an idea of how you live-up and take over a Carnaval in 2 days:
Getting there
For the 2nd time since I've been here, I've been in a taxi on the way to the bus station just to realize we'd never make it in time. It's really quite the "FML" moment because Mexico City traffic is no joke and tickets are non-refundable. Again we had to haul ass to a metro stop, cram into it with our luggage, pray that we made it in time and then jump out and sprint to the bus. We were late but somehow made it. We were just meant to Carnaval that weekend I suppose.
As soon as we settled down into our seats, 500 Days of Summer started up (it was Ironman 2 on the bus ride back). I bring it up because the chance that those 2 movies in particular were chosen is just some crazy cosmic way of life winking at me and just the beginning of all the "head nods". It's awesome but I won't get into why here. We finally arrived in Veracruz at 11 pm. As in, we arrived at the bus stop. I suppose nights that start like that are just meant to be epic.
For the 2nd time since I've been here, I've been in a taxi on the way to the bus station just to realize we'd never make it in time. It's really quite the "FML" moment because Mexico City traffic is no joke and tickets are non-refundable. Again we had to haul ass to a metro stop, cram into it with our luggage, pray that we made it in time and then jump out and sprint to the bus. We were late but somehow made it. We were just meant to Carnaval that weekend I suppose.
As soon as we settled down into our seats, 500 Days of Summer started up (it was Ironman 2 on the bus ride back). I bring it up because the chance that those 2 movies in particular were chosen is just some crazy cosmic way of life winking at me and just the beginning of all the "head nods". It's awesome but I won't get into why here. We finally arrived in Veracruz at 11 pm. As in, we arrived at the bus stop. I suppose nights that start like that are just meant to be epic.
We explored the hotel, explored the main square and then headed out to celebrate.
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| The view of the stage and the town square from our balcony. Model:Scott Wofford |
The Food:
The amount of eating on this trip was a little bit on the ludicrous side but you can't blame us. See pictures below:
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| Bombas are essentially conchas filled with cream. I got my palm read as I ate this...yea that's right. |
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| Breakfast at 2 pm |
The parade started off with about 10 minutes of police and soldiers marching, driving or riding down the street to lots of cheering and applause. I guess it's a thanks from the community for restoring security in a city that has been plagued with a lot drug violence recently.
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| The Police riding these strange tricycle things |
After about an hour of standing in the crowd, we decided we didn't want to sit around and just observe the parade so we jumped behind a float and started prancing down the rest of the parade route. I'm sure this is illegal but somehow no authority figure seemed to mind that there were 3 Americans and a Canadian dancing around like a bunch a crazies (in masks) between a midst of perfectly choreographed dancers.
Not sure how Carnaval goes in other places, but the floats and dancers blasted a lot of different kinds of music and more Salsa than expected. Below is my attempt to show you a glimpse of what was going on during the parade. It's kinda spliced and short but hey, I was Carnavaling people:
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| The Veracruz float |
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| We had a few too many pictures of us modeling in these masks |
The Music:
Now back to the head nod from life.
As mentioned, Veracruzanos were supposed to be more like Caribbean folks than other Mexicans and I knew this going in, but the music on this trip was a straight up soundtrack for my life at the moment. This was the case the entire time we were in Veracruz but most notably on our first night out.
When we walked into La Casona, a club known most recently for the discovery of a severed head out front, the typical LMFAO-type craziness you expect was blasting. THEN, this man and his cover band showed up and decided to make this an epic night for me.
You know how you have songs that have that ONE line that gets you every single time? Every song this man sang, was one of those. Most notably, my amigo sang:
Yo no se Mañana-Luis Enrique
La Despedida-Daddy Yankee
Mientes-Camila
For blogging purposes, I even took a break from swooning like a 12 year-old Bieber fan, to take a video of this Cynthia-loving man singing "Tu Amor me hace Bien" by Marc Anthony
And no. That is NOT me screaming "I love you".
Okay yes it is.
Life, I give you a well-deserved head nod back. Truly Amazing.
-Jarochos! A huevo!
