First of all I just want to say that La Feria de Las Flores is by far one of the best things Ive done here. It's an incredible festival and it's just begun!
On Saturday I met up with a bunch of the trainees by a metro (subway) station near my house called Aguacatala to go see one of the first major events of the festival called La Cabalgata! La Cabalgata is basically a parade of people riding horses.... in all different kinds of clothing, hats etc and sometimes the horses are even decorated with flowers and flags as well.
So when the parade started I thought, ok, how many horses can there actually be? ... there were a lot... no that's an understatement, there were a ridiculous amount of horses, and the parade went on for like 4 hours. I dont think I ever seen so many people riding horses in one spot.
After checking out the parade for a bit, we headed to get some food. One of my new obsessions is Colombian bbq... or in spanish "asado". Particularly Im a big fan of things called "chuzos" which is essentially meat on a stick with a potato or two and a mini arepa. They're normally pretty cheap (around $2.000 pesos... which is like $1 Canadian) and of course delicious.
My big purchase of the day however was when I bought my Paisa shirt. These shirts are hugely popular during La Feria de Las Flores because the word Paisa (which is a person from Antioquia) is in the same lettering as the Pilsen beer logo. Pilsen is one of the most popular beers in Colombia, and I think the biggest sponsor of the festival. Anyways, so Ive been dying to get a shirt, and finally got one this weekend! They had a deal where you got a 6 pack of beer and a tshirt for $15.000 pesos (about $7.50 Canadian... READ: excellent deal).
After checking out the event for the afternoon we grabbed some food for dinner then headed to the center of the city to party! Some of the bars had decorations up in celebration of the festival ... balloons, streamers and paper flowers covered the outside of some bars. The bar district was packed with all different kinds of people celebrating the festival and just enjoying the night. The atmosphere lately in Medellín (ever since the festival has started) has been great, everyone is so happy and high spirited, Im loving the vibes Im getting from the city lately!
On Sunday (today), I once again headed to another event with some friends. Unfortunately it was pouring rain almost all day... :( but that didnt stop us from enjoying the day or the party! Today we saw a parade of Chivas (old fashioned Colombian buses which are now used to party throughout the city) as well as a large fairs ground which had craft vendors, food, drinks, and bands playing. I just cannot get over how many people attend these events it's ridiculous. I was definitely excited to see the Chivas, since im a big fan of them, the people riding inside were loving life, drinking, singing, dancing, and shooting this foam stuff on people in the crowds (Random but hilarious).
Even though it was raining, we still enjoyed ourselves, we danced in the rain to live music being played, checking out and tasting various foods and drinks, and just soaking up the incredibly atmosphere that is La Feria de las Flores!
I cannot WAIT for next weekends events because the most important event (Silleteros) will be on Sunday. So im really looking forward to seeing that. :)
Here is a video showing a part of La Cabalgata...
No comments:
Post a Comment