carnaval

the headliners for the week

Feb. 16^th 2012

this is the malecone the day before carnival

Today is the official start of carnaval. I have heard rumors of mass amounts of people, some bad element coming into town. The stages have been set up and there are a lot of 10 by ten booths set up all along the board walk. Carnaval doesn’t officially start till eight, so I took a nap earlier today. I figure that might be my last chance to sleep for the next week.

starting to set up for carnaval on the malecone

By five o clock the wind was picking up and it was a cold wind. There were five of us planning on going to opening night carnival, but by six the temp. was in the low 60’s and the wind put the temp. with wind chill, in the low fifties. So I bailed. I can see the malicone (boardwalk) from the boat, and there just isn’t that many people mulling about. I guess it’s too cold for the locals too.

Feb. 17^th 2012

The only thing really annoying last night was the noise coming from the carnival. Not carnaval, but the carnival. The carnival is set up right across from me on the malicone. Lots of cheesy rides, the same carnival we have all seen in the states. But this one has a spook house, and they play the theme song from the x files over, and over, and over, and over on a loop, and it’s not the whole song, just the opening four measures. Over, and over, and over, and over again. That got old really fast. But it turned off about eleven, so I did sleep on my first night of carnaval.

Today we are all planning on going into town again, even though the cold temperatures are still here. Ed and Terry from s/v Sea Moore are travelling back to the states tomorrow for a couple of weeks, so tonight is their last chance to see carnaval. It was Terry, Ed John, Russ and I. We headed out around seven and walked the booths and waited for the bands to start up. It reminded me of a small town fair, not too many people, lots of games for the kids to play, the carnival etc. the only real difference is the bars. About every tenth booth was a full on bar, with any kind of drink you can imagine. Ed and Terry left around nine and I stayed out with John and Russ. We walked up and down the malicone three times. A couple of bands started playing. Girls were dancing. But it was very mellow.

pork flat steaks all piled on top of each other and roasted on a spit. very good.

We came back to our boats at around 10:30. I could not deal with the x-files again, so I turned on my radio and found a channel with white noise and turned it loud enough to block out the x-files. Ahhhhhh bliss at last.

Feb. 18^th 2012

Terry and Ed left at three for the airport. I dinghied them to shore, I am also babysitting their boat while they are away. But they emptied out their fridge and freezer before they left, so I was the recipient of lots of meat and vegetables. I called Russ and asked him to come to dinner over at my place. We had pork chops in a red wine reduction with mushrooms, rice pilaf, and poi son crue. Which is a lot like ceviche, only the vegetables are chopped thicker, and it has coconut milk in it.

After dinner we headed out to carnaval. Basically the same as last night, only I did notice more people tonight. There was one Mexican band who dressed like the Beatles and played Beatle songs, but I don’t think they spoke English because the big hit for the night was not “I wanna hold your hand” but sounded like “I momma holding a hand.” I swear that’s what they said.

There was also a Mexican rapper, and a hard screamer band. Very eclectic. I got back to the boat at midnight and the volume of the malicone has indeed picked up and is going later. So more white noise for me. (the pictures of both of these bands didnt turn out)

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the parade. It starts at four. So the plan is to go to the parade, and then back to the boat for a spaghetti dinner as I try to use up the stuff Terry gave me. I don’t have a freezer so I have to cook it fast. But john is also coming over for dinner tonight. I think John and Russ are happy Terry gave me all this extra stuff to cook.

Feb. 19^th, 2012

Today is the big day for carnival. The headliner is very famous, although I never heard of her, Diana reyes. She starts at ten, and there is a parade today at four.

The parade was pretty cool. Lots of floats and strange things to look at. Most of the floats had a group of people walking behind them all dressed the same, and they all had music blaring at crazy levels. I don’t know if I am just getting too old, or if Mexicans just don’t believe music is any good unless you can feel the music pulsating through your body. But it is always LOUD!

The parade lasted about an hour. Another different custom they have down here is the throwing of candy from the floats. In the states you grab the biggest handful you can pick up and throw it, overhand, into the unsuspecting masses, but down here, they toss one or two at a time, always making sure the person they are throwing to is ready, I also saw a lot of plastic cups, and cd’s being tossed as well.

After the parade we came back to my boat for dinner, I had started the spaghetti sauce earlier in the day and it had been simmering nicely for about three hours. I put water on to boil and made a salad, then put the noodles in the boiling water with salt and oil. I then prepared the garlic cheese bread with two kinds of cheese, parmesan and cheddar sprinkled over butter and of course fresh garlic. I did not put the cheddar on the bread until after I grilled them on my comal that is a tortilla grill down here. The bread toasted up nicely, and then I put the cheddar on top to melt. By that time the noodles were done and we were eating.

 At eight we went back out to ground zero of carnaval. Tonight there is a lot more people here than the previous nights. As usual, we started walking down the malicone people watching.

We were in a great spot to watch the headliner as ten was getting closer. The band started playing and the backup singers sounded good, there was some pyrotechnics and fog on stage as Diana came into view. The crowd went wild and she started singing. She has a powerful voice and the crowd was singing along with her to the song I had never heard before.

We watched for about ten minutes and then walked down the malicone to the end and then back. I feel like I have seen behind the curtain of carnaval in La Paz, the magic is gone. I just want my quiet anchorage back. Just three more nights.

Diana Reyes