Usually I'm your typical pretentious New Yorker who sneer at the idea of family-friendly activities and spit out snide remarks. One of the few exceptions to this is that I unabashedly LOVE festivals of every kind, from a traditional historic festival to a music festival, where people are full of joviality (& alcohol in some cases). You'll find me practically beaming in the first row.
I've been fortunate enough to attend quite a number of festivals around the world, and one of my "life goals" include participating in a Japanese festival in a very particular way-I realize this sounds more perverse than it actually is, but it's really rather innocent. We'll see if I can achieve it this year.
It's hard to make a comparison between all these festivals since they are all very different in nature, but I think my favorite has to be El Gran Poder of La Paz, Bolivia. Usually stern and reserved Bolivians danced merrily in stunningly colored outfits, sometimes clutching beer in their hands, while some randomly set off "dynamites." For someone who almost never drinks, I must admit, I am strangely pleased to see people drinking for fun and joy.
I had broken my hand in Copacabana a few days before the festival, so I visited an ER in La Paz early in the morning before running to the city center with my left hand/forearm freshly put in a plaster cast. I started to snap away with very restricted finger movements, while being completely awestruck between shots, and having a laugh with random strangers(not a common thing in Bolivia) at how ridiculous I must have looked-with fresh plaster bits and stains all over my hood, snapping away pics with two barely moveable fingers while sprawling on a main La Paz street.
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