Festival Del Burro

A new day and another day of travelling. After going all the way from Cereté to Mompox we now find our way to San Antero, which happens to be about 1h away from Cereté. Meaning we had to travel back another whole day to get there. Not just that but also the ferries were called off - causing us to take a detour. Ultimately we must have travelled for a total of about 16h that day. I get to look forward to the festival the next day though. And not just any festival, this was going to be the Festival Del Burro (meaning Festival of the Donkey). It is a festival meant to show the appreciation of the people for this animal, which aids the people and therefore the economy in the region greatly (and I guess many other places too). This appreciation is shown in a very interesting and funny way at times, as I will describe shortly. The festival starts at 04:00am - after arriving so late the day before I admit of not having been overly fond of the idea of getting up so early. Nevertheless we manage to push ourselves out of bed and as we get out of the hotel the orchestra had already started. They were playing very near the hotel so even if we would have been sleeping the loud sounds of drums, trumpets and clarinets would have woken us up for sure.

"Jesus, this exhaustion is starting to get to me man." I say to Jhoy as I yawn. He was holding the camera and slowly walking towards the orchestra in hope of a good shot.

"Push yourself, you can do it. Start asking them a few question - then we can get this morning shoot done a little bit quicker." He replies and points to some older women dancing next to the orchestra. I head over and naturally start dancing with them as a way of introducing myself.

I laugh as they start to move a little bit too close and then open the conversation with the question that had been on my mind. "Nice to meet you guys, this is my first time at this festival and I was wondering if you have a minute. I was also wondering why would anyone start a festival at 04:00am, isn't that completely crazy?"

"Well it is meant as a wake-up call." One of the women replies. "The village is being prepared for the party that is going to happen for the next few days. Oh and also there is a little procession going on for one of the saints."

We followed this procession and the people for a little bit more before dropping back into bed. After a rejuvenating 4h sleep we head to one of the main events of the festival. The run of the donkeys, or 'La Burralgata'. We could see a hilltop from afar on which hundreds of donkeys and their riders were gathering. On arrival we could see more of the details - most of the donkeys had been cleaned up and were carrying their best gear to show off the best donkeys of the land. And some of them had even been dressed up for the occasion, they were wearing wigs and dresses in addition to lipstick and eyeshadow.

"Hey man what's your name?" I start the conversation with a young man who had just mounted his donkey and was, like all the others, waiting for the parade to begin.

"Neisser, what about you? Where are you from?" He replies as he turns the donkey around to face me.

"Noah, nice to meet you. I am from Germany but live in Barranquilla right now. I've got a question: We're filming a documentary about festivals in the caribbean right now - would it be possible to get a shot while riding your donkey?" I reply and greet his stretched out hand with a shake.

"Of course man, just wait a minute." He gets off the donkey and passes the rope wrapped around its neck to me. I climb onto the little donkey and a few seconds later we hear the horn of the parade sounding from further down the hill.

"Sorry, I'll have to ride it now for the parade." Neisser says and I step out of the saddle. We watch the masses of animals ride down the hill - filling up the entire street side to side and not leaving any space for cars as far as my eyes could see. The occasional motorbike would try to pass through the dense mass of donkeys and riders but the road was blocked. I even caught a glance of the police donkey - dressed up in a uniform and hat while two officers lead him into the parade. Very funny sight indeed and pretty nice to know that besides all the bad things I have heard about the police here they do seem to have a sense of humour. This long parade ended at a big stadium which had a big stage set up at the front and was already starting to fill up with masses of people.

Some presentations had begun on stage, but what caught my attention were the men which were trying to piss off the donkeys in front of the stage. I couldn't believe my eyes when they - after hitting and annoying them for half an hour or so - jumped atop of the wild animal. It was a donkey rodeo. This turned out be a competition, and part of the program. The donkeys were going absolutely crazy, flailing their legs and body in sudden movements in an attempt to throw the rider of their back. As they were surrounded by big groups of people every now and then a donkey came dangerously close to hitting the body of one of the spectators. When this happened it was like a wave raging through the people as they moved back quickly under the screams of women and the shouts of men.

As night time broke in, the champeta music got louder and louder and the alcohol started flowing more freely. I had started slowly dancing to beat of the music but as the beat sped up so did I. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment of music more fully. I let myself go a little bit and when opening my eyes due to hearing clapping and laughing I find myself surrounded by a group of people taking pictures. Geez, now they're putting me on the spotlight - I am guessing the director is loving this scene though. So I keep going and some of the women in the circle around me start to join in - pretty much all dances here require two people. I dance and dance for maybe 2h more until my feet start to ache.

Like so many other festivals in the caribbean this also has a religious aspect. In this case, due to the Semana Santa taking place they had prepared a puppet representing Judas. He had ridden on a donkey through the town during the march of the donkeys, after reaching the stadium he had been ripped off the donkey and hung up high on wooden beams by his head. Hanging on a thick piece of rope he was overviewing the spectacle from above. Now that night had entered and the presentations on stage were over, men climbed up the long wooden poles. They were carrying canisters filled with petrol which they were now generously spraying over the puppet. After sliding back down the poles one of the men took out a lighter and burned a piece of fabric hanging down from Judas. The flames started climbing higher and higher until setting the petrol and the puppet on fire. A massive circle of people had formed around the flaming body. As more and more flames ate the puppet, the petroleum drenched stuffing inside started falling into the centre of the circle. The smoke started creating large clouds that hung dark over the masses of people. Ultimately only the frame of thin wire - representing the bones of Judas - was left hanging above our heads and the remains of what used to be his body were now burning slowly below it.

I think that was enough of religious and animal craze for the day, so we head back to the minivan which our driver, Rodger, had parked just outside of the Arena. After pushing through the people and ignoring the vendors trying to sell me little donkeys "por solo $5 mi amigo" we reach the car. Or well, we got as close to the car as we could - it had been surrounded by motorbikes as more and more people arrived to enjoy the party. This meant about half an hour of shuffling the countless motorbikes away from the car to create a narrow pathway to the road. After having that gotten out of the way I fall happily into my seat to rest my sore legs.