BQ's Carnaval

Carnaval season has officially kicked off in BQ.
http://www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org/2005/home.php

Ok, you say, this is good for a small post. Not so fast sparky. BQ's Carnaval has officially begun. This is the time of year that the fourth largest city in Colombia distinguishes itself from its much more celebrated and sophisticated brethern. In February Bogota is not boss. Medellin is not the Most, Cali doesn't cook and Cartagena ain't king. It is really the time when goofy, lazy, homely Barranquilla shines. Barranquilla boasts the second-largest Carnaval in South America (next to a little place called Rio in Brazil) and it is nuts here.
And, with Rio so damned far away, and New Orleans still suffering from the effects of the hurricanes, Your natural choice for a Fat-Tuesday celebration is a little town two and a half hours south of Florida. So contact the airlines (Avianca has direct flights from Miami) and get your ass down here, it's really the only time that there is much of a tourist presence in BQ. And it is the only time you'll probably get into competition of rubbing corn-flour into the faces and clothes of everyone around you. Personally, I never figured that one out. But no one really asks complex questions like "why" here in Feb.. More to come.

An interesting sidenote to this years Carnaval is that the Reina Carnaval (Queen of the Carnival, a serious title for a young woman from BQ) just happens to be a former student of a bald, but remarkably handsome middle aged dude from Washington State who's typing this here sentence right now. So, if you need an in to the Carnaval don't hesitate to ask, after meeting with Uribe (Colombian president, gringoes) Marichi has me pencilled in for a 4:05-4:05:30 meeting, and I will be sure to mention your name.