R
South America



Once every year, an undistinguished backwater mining town explodes with all the color, music and merriment of the wildest carnival in Venezuela.

By Seb Kennedy



In appearance, the gold mining town of El Callao is much like any other backwater community in Bolivar state, eastern Venezuela. The searing heat is tempered by a fresh breeze and brief but intense downpours. Muddled terraces of tin-roof dwellings lead to a large main square with towering palm trees and bright but slightly unkempt flowerbeds. The archetypal colonial church is located opposite, flanked by small businesses selling warm weather clothing, mobile phones and empanadas (deep-fried maize flour wraps, stuffed with meat, cheese or fish). A street-vendor pushes an ice-cream cart slowly around the square; elderly folk sit and discuss the day's news.



But each year, forty days before Easter Sunday, the town awakens from its eternal summer slumber as 80,000 revelers from all over the country descend upon its narrow streets armed with water pistols, crates of aguardiente (liquor) and the desire to dance calypso night and day. The local population of just 2,000 are more than prepared for the onslaught, however; kiosks selling beer are stationed on every street corner, the mobile speaker towers are wired up and ready to go, and the carnival costumes are sewn, sequined and painted the same bright colors as the shops and houses of the town itself.



The build-up to Carnival starts earlier in El Callao than the rest of Venezuela, although the official dates are the same as those observed in Brazil and Trinidad--Carnival Monday and Tuesday directly precede Ash Wednesday, the start of lent. The first celebrations take place a few days before this, and the parties build to a fever pitch on the Sunday, when the rest of the country is only starting to celebrate. The following 72 hours are a heady mix of non-stop calypso, rum and fancy dress, until the plug is pulled on the sound systems at midnight on Tuesday and everything comes to an abrupt halt, signaling the start of forty days' penance and much-needed abstinence.

There were six comparsas, or floats, in El Callao in 2006, and each is comprised of a local calypso band, a mobile sound-system and a decorative procession. The most well-known band is The Same People, a legendary Venezuelan outfit in the Calypso scene, whose English name and hybrid Anglo-Hispanic lyrics pay tribute to the music's Trinidadian heritage. Calypso was the most prominent cultural import of the Afro-Caribbean slaves, and one which has found such favor amongst the population of Bolivar state that it has become synonymous with the entire region. It has great importance to the whole community, and has been a living oral commentary of the people's lifestyle and history for decades. In the band's own words,

"Calypso is not just a means of expression through music or dance, but rather a mental attitude, a deep-rooted philosophy. It allows us to understand the complex traditions that have arisen from a mixing of cultures, in which different nationalities have each contributed their customs without cultural arrogance; a willingness to share knowledge is one of the characteristics of a Callaoense."
Translated from http://www.thesamepeople.com/calipso.htm


Each comparsa is typically headed by the latigos, or whips, a roll played by teenage boys dressed as red devils who march angrily through the crowd cracking their leather whips to make space for the oncoming dancers. The lack of barriers between the onlookers and participants allows the visitors greater inclusion in the celebration, and makes face-to-face photography of the processions a cinch for anyone with a camera, and the guts to step out of line. If things get out of hand, the latigos step in, although this is rarely necessary.



After the latigos have cleared the way, the beautiful dancing girls shuffle past wearing exquisitely decorated matching two-piece outfits, and elaborately sequined feather head dresses which shake and shimmer to the calypso quick step. Each comparsa has its own particular design and colour scheme, and is headed by the Reina, or Queen dancer, typically the most beautiful and curvaceous--although they are spoiled for choice. The all-smiling dancers parade past the cheering crowds, posing for the many cameras.

Other members of the comparsa carry enormous devil masks, horned skulls with red and black eyes which twist and turn above the inebriated masses. They are accompanied by smaller diablitos in fiendish red attire, carrying menacing head masks and brandishing tridents. These depictions express the traditional belief that the devil dwells underground, where the gold is found, and where the slaves were once forced to work under terrible conditions.



Carnival provided the slaves of the mines with the freedom to express their beliefs and protest against their imposed squalor, and to celebrate and forget the misery of their daily reality; it was a release valve for all the pent-up torment and frustration, which exploded in a frenzy of drinking, dancing, and singing. This hedonism has become a yearly ritual in El Callao, which resonates well with the party-hard mentality of modern Venezuelans.

The most widely held belief is that Carnival in the Caribbean and South America has strong roots in pre-colonial and pre-Christian Africa, and that despite their efforts, European colonizers were unable to discourage its practice. They instead named the festival "Carnival", a word with Latin roots meaning "to remove the meat" or "stop eating meat", and associated it with the indulgences preceding the sacrament of lent.

In this way, what was deemed a "debauched" pagan practice by the Catholic Church during colonial times was given an "acceptable" Christian veneer, and was kept alive by the African slaves transported to the Caribbean after the conquest of the New World. By the time the gold mining slaves were brought to El Callao, carnival was already widely celebrated all over South America, but they enriched the celebrations there by introducing their own music, costumes, energy and spirit to the festivities.

Although rooted in protest and anarchy, the celebratory spirit of carnival is never forgotten. People are good natured even in the face of crowd chaos and separation from friends and family. This often occurs in the aftermath of a passing sound system, where the onlookers pile into the seething "mosh pit" of pushing and shoving, beer arcing overhead whilst the vocalist urges them on with shouts of "BRINCA! BRINCA!" (JUMP! JUMP!) and "LEVANTA LAS MANOS!" (HANDS IN THE AIR!).



Complete strangers will share bottles of rum, then soak each other from head to toe with high-pressure water pistols, without the fun ever spilling over into aggression. There were no reported skirmishes or shootings reported during carnival in El Callao in 2006. Everyone arrives ready to play carnival along with everybody else, to run the risk of being pushed, shoved or soaked - or even daubed with black paint by the longest-standing characters of El Callao, the mediopintos.



The mediopintos scurry through the crowds either alone or in small groups, painted head-to-toe with a sticky black mixture of charcoal, sugar cane and water. They threaten to daub those that refuse to "collaborate" with their request, "Medio o te pinto!" ("Give me a coin or I'll paint you!"), which gave rise to their name. The mediopintos were named at a time when a medio (twenty-five cents of a Bolivar) was worth getting dirty for, but after years of high inflation they won't leave you paint-free for less than a couple of thousand Bolívares (about one US dollar).

However, their behavior is subject to strict rules: they are allowed to operate only between midnight and 6 AM on the Sunday and Monday nights, but at no point may they enter the main square, Plaza El Jobo. At the strike of midnight, the square becomes crammed, way too small to accommodate everyone, and the mediopintos prey on those caught out. They may even be "contracted" to daub somebody for a small fee, but like true mercenaries, they can be re-contracted for a larger sum, thus playing two people off each other to ratchet up the price. As ever, these antics are all part of the carnival experience, which everybody enters into with enthusiasm.

At around 4 AM, after several hours of this playful revelry, the oldest and most rowdy of the floats rolls out the Comparsa Agricultura, or Agriculture Float. Until recently this was the only acoustic float, with scores of drummers, guitarists and vocalists leading a procession of followers decorated with, or even dressed as, fruit and vegetables. Everybody holds aloft an ear of corn or a cob of maize, an expression of the people's wish to work the land, free from the scourge of the mining industry. The comparsa agricultura is the most jubilant and merry of the night, emerging as it does at the height of the revelry, but the sentiment behind the celebration is undoubtedly one of protest.

This perhaps sums up the philosophy of the people of El Callao, and perhaps the rest of the country too: while the impoverished majority are still forced by economic circumstance into a lifestyle that they are largely unable to improve, and pragmatically accept from day to day, they never forget to stand up and make their voices heard and to have as much fun as possible at the annual celebratory protest of Carnival. The vibrant cultural mix of the El Callao community is just one stripe in the ethnic rainbow of modern-day Venezuela. The result is a fascinating patchwork of traditions and beliefs, which have combined to form unique identities amongst the communities they represent.


According to local legend, the mining town El Callao derived its name from a loan miner who struck a thick seam of gold but kept the secret to himself. A Venezuelan colloquialism, el callao literally translates as 'the one with his mouth shut'. The small agricultural town was referred to as Caratal until somebody spilled the beans about the shining secret in the hills. The news spread like wild fire, and the gold rush commenced.



Getting There:

To Reach El Callao from Caracas:

Caracas is the major international port for visitors to Venezuela. Ciudad Guayana is the inevitable stopping point on the way to El Callao, which can either be reached overland or by air.

Caracas toCiudad Guayana by air:

Internal flights from Caracas leave from Maiquetia national airport in La Guaire, located an hour's bus ride to the north of Caracas. Ciudad Guayana has the nearest commercial airport to El Callao, although it lies 176 km away to the south-east. The journey takes around 2 hours.

Caracas to Ciudad Guayana overland:

Buses leave daily from various bus stations in Caracas to Ciudad Guayana. The journey of 720 km takes anywhere between 9 and 12 hours, depending on the traffic and number of stops en route.

Ciudad Guayana to El Callao:

El Callao must be reached overland from Ciudad Guayana, a journey of 176 km via the towns of Upata and Guasipati, through a combination of regional buses and por puestos (taxis or minibuses that serve a particular route and take several passengers part or all of the journey). Depending on connections the entire stretch can take up to 6 hours to cover, and bear in mind that the world and his wife is trying to get to El Callao for carnival so allow more time for heavy traffic after Guasipati. But just remember, however long it takes, it'll be well worth it in the end!

Accommodations in El Callao:

All of the hostels and hotels in the town itself are booked up by the November before carnival. There are a number of places to stay, check www.hoteles.com.ve or http://www.inatur.gov.ve/hotel_bolivar.html.

For More Information on Carnival, Visit:

www.thesamepeople.com
(in Spanish, with lots of great images and in-depth information).

www.theafrican.com/Magazine/carnival.htm
Great article on the origins of Carnival (in English)

Photo Credits: Seb Kennedy, Additional photos courtesy of "The Same People" group...


© 2006 ROMAR TRAVEL GUIDES