Kite Stunnaz

--> Our first excursion in Guatemala was to Sumpango, a village famous for its kite festival on All Saints Day. The locals spend hours laboring over massive kites, strung together with bamboo and pasted with layer upon layer of colorful tissue paper. The kites carry messages to the gods for the year to come, reflecting the pains, hopes and desires of their creators. The event starts with the whole crown flying their own kites, leading up to the larger ones, some spanning up to 20 feet in diameter.

The launching and flying of the big kites takes a lot of effort. 4-8 men on the ground race off with a rope, launching the octagonal disk into the sky. Most of the time the kites make a massive crash onto the public below but others remain aloft for a while, fulfilling their purpose of bringing their message closer to god.

My highlight was finally getting my poorly-made (chino) kite assembled and ready to fly. After a while, a young boy came and watched as Jeremiah and I coaxed the bird into the sky. He stared at us for a while before I asked him if he wanted to fly the kite. He quickly grabbed the lead lie while I held the spool. Every time he got the kite more than 10 feet off the ground, he would pass the line off to me and jump up and down as I let the kite race higher into the sky. (This scene reminded me when my brother and I would play Super Nintendo and on a particularly challenging boss, my brother would jump up and down as I came close to winning).

After a while, the kid asked me if I would give him the kite. Now normally, I hate giving things to people who ask for them, it strikes me as disingenuous and a little pushy. However, on this day, with this adorable kite-less kid, I couldn’t say no. I passed the kite off to him and headed off to watch some more larger kite crashes.

Carnaval de Negros y Blancos

Not exactly Carnaval a la Rio de Janiero or even Barranquilla, this one has religious and cultural significance, as well as the added value of coating your ‘friends’ in water-based paint and talcum powder from head to toe. When we arrived in town, backpacks in tow, we were greeted by several youths who eagerly sprayed us with foam canisters, a new addition to the messy tradition.There was an enormous parade, lots of paint fights and lots of "Guarapo," Pasto's version of aguardiente that had been heated and flavored with citrus to keep one warm in the cool mountain climate.

Bicentennial, Man

Colombia turned 200 on Tuesday, meaning that Bicentennial celebrations were ubiquitous throughout the country. As a music guy, I was delighted to hear that 1,000 different concerts throughout the country were being held at the same time in honor of the celebration. Federico showed his patriotism by getting the names of Colombia's founding fathers buzzed into his hair:

We then headed off to the nearby city of Rio Negro to catch a dance performance. I had previously known Rio Negro for only Medellín's international airport, only passing through the city. I was pleasantly surprised to see elements of a folksy town about Rio Negro. While not as charming as nearby Marinilla or Rio Claro, having the celebration in a nice-looking town square certainly did it for me. Federico's girlfriend is part of a dance group in called, "The Folklore Ballerinas of Antioquia" and they were good. 

 

They performed dances from each of Colombia's different regions, showcasing the amount of great cultural diversity that exists here. My favorite was the 'Montanero' dance from this region, where it looks like the dancers are doing a spastic version of the "Funky Chicken." (Federico later informed me that yes, they are supposed to imitate chickens and no, they were not taking themselves seriously). Fede was up to more tomfoolery as on our way back he pointed out the "Norte America" letters that sit above a Medellín hill, Hollywood-style. "It's because we like the USA so much," he joked. We had another performance obligation that was really cool, an a capella show at a local church. It turned into a reunion of many Medellín friends I hadn't seen for a while. We grabbed a few tables at Punta Arena on la 70 after the show and laughed the night away.