Carnaval in La Vega!!

This past weekend five of us volunteers switched our free day from Friday to Monday in order to aprovechar and go up north to La Vega to see carnaval! It is one of the biggest festivities in the country each year, and it takes place every Sunday in February with the last Sunday of the month (i.e. the Sunday we went) being the biggest day of them all. It is an event I would have gotten to last year when all of the Mages’ were in the country but plans changed a bit, so I was really excited at last to go to La Vega and experience the butt-whacking and craziness my cousin, Terry, had told me all about on the phone before I even came to the DR over a year ago. It was such a cool thing to be a part of!

Here's the crew...me, Milena, Diego, Avriel, and Pili!

We all left Saturday morning (after a surprise bus strike in San Pedro that luckily ended on Friday night) and made it to La Vega in three hours, record time. We checked into our hotel and went out exploring early afternoon. There really weren’t many people out at all, but we saw all of the booths and tents and decorations throughout town where clearly things would be taking place later on. Around 4:00pm, things started up with a desfile nacional or a national parade where groups of people dressed up in carnaval costumes from all over the country strutted their stuff. Some of the costumes were outrageous!! So intricate in their designs and details and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen so much glitter and sequins in my life (especially on men!) The masks that the participants wear also blew my mind…it’s hot enough out but to wear all of that costume plus a 15-pound head garment and go prancing up and down the streets dancing for hours…I can’t imagine how hot they got! It was mind-blowing… That evening, we found ourselves hanging out in the park nearby our hotel where a huge stage was set up. To our surprise, out came Melymel, El Batallon, and Don Miguelo…some very popular Dominican artists right now. How cool!

Mellas!

Here's the diablo conjuelo!

Made a friend...

Speakers on the back of cars were booming around everywhere...SO loud!

...Not really sure what this is...

The typical cross-dressers of carnaval...

The drummers at the back of every group...

I liked these blue and white costumes...

LOCO!

Each group began with a sign saying where they were from...even Haiti participated...

SO many designs!

I liked the green and pink too!

These are the typical clay beggars of carnaval...

Little boy!

SO many people!

Don't know where this devil is going with Av...

A limousine with speakers...

Pili, me, and Av at the concert!

Melymel!

Sunday was the big day! We got some breakfast, chilled in the hotel for bit, and then out we went. It seemed like there were millions more people than on Saturday and interestingly enough, nearly everyone was Dominican. We saw some tourists, but very few. It must have been middle to upper Dominican society though, because there is no way most Dominicans could afford those costumes or a weekend away like this. Again, there was a parade with all of the colorful costumes and characters…they was literally every color combination imaginable…the main costume we saw is the diablo conjuelo which means “limping devil”. These were the guys that carried the vejigas or these big hard balloons (typically animal bladders) on strings that go around whacking everyone’s butt. And let me tell you, it stings! We also figured out the hard way that your most vulnerable moment is when you are posing next to one of them to get a photo…within seconds, another one comes up to you and whacks you in the behind. OUCH! But that didn’t stop us from getting the photos. We also realized that the kids are the worst with the vejigas…they might not be able to whack as hard, but they get soooo into it that they will whack any part of your body, not just your behind and that hurts even more! That night we were beyond lucky, because we got to go to a free Prince Royce concert, one of my favorite artists here. It was at the Olympic Stadium in La Vega and he did all my favorite songs including Rechazame, El Amor Verdadero Perdona, Incondicional, El Amor Que Perdimos, and Corazon Sin Cara. It was a blast!!! Afterwards, there were fireworks and then we went out dancing!!

The guys selling vejigas...

Pili found one! Hehe!

Just a little scary...

The purple ones...check out the vejigas they are carrying!

SO many colors!

Red ones! Check out the vejigas in their hands again!

Look at those crazy headdresses sticking out above the crowd...

These guys kinda reminded me of the Green Bay Packers...

Halloween?!?!

Again, not really sure what this was...

...Creepy...

People were even sitting on the roof to watch...what a view...

...And these guys reminded me of the Hastings Raiders...

Love these colors!!

More of the crowd!

Standing in front of him in an attempt not to get our behinds whacked...it didn't work...

Again trying to avoid the vejigas...

ROYCE!!!

GREAT concert!

The grand finale!

The girls and Prince Royce!

Overall, it was an amazing weekend! Although it’s not easy leaving the home for a couple days because there’s always so much more on your to-do list than there are hours in the day, it’s worth it to go and see the country and experience the culture every now and then. I’m feeling more and more Dominican by the day!!

OWWWWW!!!