It’s the longest Carnival in the world – 40 days of party right? I had my reservations…what kind of place (and who) could join festivities for 40 days straight? Impossible. But I have been proven wrong, once again. And last night I experienced my favorite Carnival times thus far.
I’ve gone to the opening Inaugural Parade, the following Las Llamadas parade with the candombe drumming groups, then off to the Samba School Parade. They were fun, interesting, dull at times due to the lack of organization (surprise surprise) and other things rolled into a feast of sounds, images and crowds.
One of the neighborhood smaller parades went by my street last night. They occur nightly in the streets of different barrios, along with the Murga shows and others in the theaters of the city. And last night showed Montevideo’s Carnival spirit still heavily pounding after close to a month of festivities. The streets were packed with neighbors; old and young, black and white, poor and not-so-poor danced alongside one another. the night was a tribute, for me, to the continuing party session of Carnival in Montevideo.
For more information and pictures from Montevideo and the surroundings, go to: http://movingmontevideo.blogspot.com
