Pasto, Colombia: Carnival de Negros y Blancos

B&N Carnival Origins: During the Spanish rule, slaves were allowed to celebrate on the 5th of January, and their masters showed their approval by painting their faces black. The next day, slaves would paint their faces white, and the whole town celebrates.

When we decided to make it for the festival, we could not have imagined the magnitude and seriousness of the affair. Instead of 2 days, the festival lasted 5. Literally (with no exceptions), EVERYONE in the town was involved. The locals, the tourists, the children, the aged, the policemen, the garbage cleaners…

Let’s paint you (no pun intended) a picture. The first time we walked out of the Koala Inn, we took exactly 4 steps before being attacked with “snow spray” and white powder. By the time we had reached the end of the second block, someone sneaked up behind me with black paint and rubbed it all over my face. Our first stop: to buy 2 cans of spray and 3 bags of talc to arm ourselves. For the next four days, we suited up (sunglasses, hat/hairband, jacket/poncho) and never left the hostel without can of spray in one hand and some powder.



Shaan & Jeremy : post-party

I hadn’t had so much messy fun in a long long time. Not since the days where my dad was always the first to start a food fight (with birthday cake, or yogurt, or eggs…) and you don’t care about how you’re gonna have to spend half and hour washing gook out of your hair or how someone just threw a fistful of powder in your face while your mouth was open. We got into “fights” with groups of children, with families, with some oldies, with teenagers… pick up trucks of groups armed with sacks of powder drove round the town, hurling powder (with a tinge of water to make targets easier to hit) at anyone who walked past. Policemen were the most hilarious. Tucked on one side was their baton or gun. Stuffed in their pocket was a can or two of spray. They were the most targeted, and naturally needed defense! Can you imagine the power-hungry, grumpy policemen in Singapore ever being that fun and light hearted!!? The cops even STARTED many of the fights!



No one was spared. The old lady collecting cans, the roadsweeper man, the dogs, the man selling snow spray cans and powder, the poor people who actually had to go to work, taxi drivers stupid enough to leave their windows down, the toilet aunty… the whole town looked like it was blanketed with snow. There was music everywhere – and to leave after 4 days of incredible fun was like saying goodbye to childhood all over again. But at least we know where to go when we need to go back in time again. Back to the days where you played with everyone and they were your friends instantly, where you got dirty and laughed so much, where your heart was free, where you never cared about how you looked, what you wore, what anyone would think, and where everyone was equal.

ps- wish i could upload more pics but internet is REALLY slow.