Carousing Caribbean Style

You have to be in good shape to survive a whole week of Carnaval, a weeklong Caribbean funfest that has become the liveliest festival in Central America, attracting visitors from Costa Rica`s central highlands, neighboring Central American countries and foreign tourists literally by the boatload. Coinciding with the national holiday known as “Multicultural Appreciation Day”, Carnaval comes to life in the second week of October each year. Hotels up and down the Caribbean coast are booked up, and street vendors appear like migrating birds to take roost on every corner. Limón has about 85,000 inhabitants, mostly of Afro-Caribbean descent, and was founded as a port in 1870 to handle exports for the burgeoning banana trade.

It`s had its ups and downs as any local will tell you, but with scores of cruise ships now calling, plus planned improvements to the local airport, the increased tourism is spelling a revitalized economy for the region, and Carnaval has become a major attraction.

Last year, I went to witness the festivities myself. The week was packed with events including children’s parades, folkloric dance shows, a day dedicated to cumbia music, another featuring calypso rhythms and many hot salsa nights. All along the pedestrian walkway and around the covered market close to the cruise line terminal, stands selling typical empanadas or luscious tropical fruit drinks tempted the crowds, and tables selling crafts, clothes and music lured happy people over to appreciate their goods. The rain put in star performances throughout the week and competed for top slot during Saturday’s stellar concert. But this is the Caribbean: it rains, and that’s never stopped a party yet.

Two sounds have become Limón’s own: calypso and reggae. The more traditional calypso originated from slave songs that, sung in code incomprehensible to plantation managers, were used to pass around messages and news.

One particular master of the genre, Walter Ferguson is remembered with great respect and his CDs are available in most music stores. Reggae is everywhere, and during Carnaval, Limón’s streets reverberate with its irresistible beat.

The celebrations peak on the final Saturday. From early on savvy locals book their spot along the main street leading to the Parque Vargas with chairs, iceboxes, even portable barbeques, waiting for the main parade in the afternoon.

Last year, the nearby boulevard was taken over in the early morning by the chefs of a national rice producer hoping to create a world record for selling 2,500 plates of rice and beans, the Caribbean’s signature dish. This involved a specially made cook pot over six feet in diameter to cook 200 pounds of rice and 100 pounds of beans that were flavored with coconut oil, salt and traditional seasonings! I suppose they earned their record – it was a sell-out and the money collected went to helping Limón’s street kids, making it a winner all around.

The grand parade began in a chaotic whirl of last-minute adjustments, shouted orders, and sprucing of colorful costumes, which slowly unraveled into some kind of order, headed by motorbikes and smartly decked-out horses. A whole array of decorated floats followed, displaying local schoolchildren lapping up the limelight, thought-provoking platforms urging action against family violence and ecological deprivation to eye-boggling displays of near-naked dancers gyrating sensually. The Chinese community was well represented with a winding, snapping dragon, surrounded by dancers in typical dress and the sound of oriental gongs. Their presence is significant since their ancestors were brought in to help construct the railroad linking Limón with San José.

Towards the end of the parade, dance troupes by the dozen had the spectators sashaying on the spot as they wiggled their wares in outrageously gaudy costumes to the sound of samba. I haven’t been to Rio’s Carnaval, but there were no points lost here for effort. Dancers came from San José and Nicaragua to add to Limón’s very own: the Caribbean Stars, Latin Heart, the Happy Indians and a memorable appearance of ‘Shakira’ from the Excellent Ones - a sumptuously outfitted transvestite who delighted the crowds.
The day finished with the evening concert starring legendary Bob Marley’s son, Damian Junior. The youngest of Marley’s children, he is a voice of reggae and Afro sounds in his own right and thousands of fans packed around the improvised stage in the Parque Vargas. You could not have squeezed in another Rasta dreadlock. It rained, of course, but that only refreshed the party spirits and a soaked Damian Junior won the crowd as his long dreads whirled and dripped in the downpour without missing a beat.

So if you are looking for local color in October, head on down to Limón – but get in some practice with your reggae moves and rum drinking first…oh, and don’t forget your umbrella!

by Vicky Longlad