Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts
19.6.11
Simulacra + Vera Icon-Festivals Part I
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.
28.5.10
Simulacra + Vera Icon-Bolivia
The first time I visited South America, Peru specifically, I couldn't go to Bolivia due to our limited time. I ended up going back to South America in less than one year, and sucked up the hefty tourist visa fee to see the other side of Lake Titicaca, where everyone told me it was better than the Peruvian side. It wasn't.
I maybe still bitter about my accident in Isla de Sol and the botched um, "handjob" performed by incompetent doctors in Bolivia but I must admit, I really loved Bolivia. I don't know what I was exactly expecting but it was definitely a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I got to see so many astonishing things unexpectedly.
Physically, it was quite demanding due to my Grade-F quality body and the questionable standards of hygiene, but like any hardship, it was such a rewarding experience. I ended up staying for a bit over a month overall, and yet still didn't get to see everything I had wanted to see.(read: Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, which looks like the freaking Lost World)
Two of my favorite dead things in the world are dinosaurs and mummies. I've had a morbid fascination with those two uh, dead "things" ever since I was little. Actually, my mom's pregnancy dream for me was that she saw a huge pterosaur/bird-esque creature fly over a beach, so I guess it was meant to be.
I have seen plenty of mummies from various time periods and cultures over the years, but never had seen a dinosaur footprint out in the nature. When I found out that you could see them up-close in Parque Nacional Toro Toro, I knew I had to go but it was quite out of the way and the information and resources for tourists were really limited. All the travel agencies quoted outrageously expensive prices(due to the lack of people)-Usually I'm anti-tour but in Bolivia it was sometimes indispensable-so I ended up changing my plans and did the whole thing DIY-way at a fraction of a cost. (I will write a Nomadic Amateur post regarding this visit)
There were so many different "wonders" of nature. One week, I was on a bus-ride-from-hell to Amazon Basin, and saw a pink river dolphin fighting, I kid you not, a heron-I seriously thought I was dreaming because...how is that possible?-then later swam with a few in murky river. A few weeks later, I was in salt flats of Uyuni, freezing my butt off at below -20 degrees Celsius, staring at these odd yet adorable rabbit & squirrel hybrid look-a-likes called viscacha.
I also got to see at least three festivals which were like love-in-technicolor. I had seen a little "preview" before going to Bolivia, in a small desert town called La Tirana in the north of Chile(which used to be a part of Bolivia), but it was really intense in Bolivia, especially El Gran Poder in La Paz, Bolivia. The usually stoic Bolivians were drinking and dancing in the streets; indeed a merry time for all.
P.S. A HUGE thanks to my friends who recommended many of these destinations for me.
P.P.S. Not to make this an Oscar-accepting speech, but I also want to thank you for your kind words regarding this blog. I really appreciate it!
I maybe still bitter about my accident in Isla de Sol and the botched um, "handjob" performed by incompetent doctors in Bolivia but I must admit, I really loved Bolivia. I don't know what I was exactly expecting but it was definitely a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I got to see so many astonishing things unexpectedly.
Physically, it was quite demanding due to my Grade-F quality body and the questionable standards of hygiene, but like any hardship, it was such a rewarding experience. I ended up staying for a bit over a month overall, and yet still didn't get to see everything I had wanted to see.(read: Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, which looks like the freaking Lost World)
Two of my favorite dead things in the world are dinosaurs and mummies. I've had a morbid fascination with those two uh, dead "things" ever since I was little. Actually, my mom's pregnancy dream for me was that she saw a huge pterosaur/bird-esque creature fly over a beach, so I guess it was meant to be.
I have seen plenty of mummies from various time periods and cultures over the years, but never had seen a dinosaur footprint out in the nature. When I found out that you could see them up-close in Parque Nacional Toro Toro, I knew I had to go but it was quite out of the way and the information and resources for tourists were really limited. All the travel agencies quoted outrageously expensive prices(due to the lack of people)-Usually I'm anti-tour but in Bolivia it was sometimes indispensable-so I ended up changing my plans and did the whole thing DIY-way at a fraction of a cost. (I will write a Nomadic Amateur post regarding this visit)
There were so many different "wonders" of nature. One week, I was on a bus-ride-from-hell to Amazon Basin, and saw a pink river dolphin fighting, I kid you not, a heron-I seriously thought I was dreaming because...how is that possible?-then later swam with a few in murky river. A few weeks later, I was in salt flats of Uyuni, freezing my butt off at below -20 degrees Celsius, staring at these odd yet adorable rabbit & squirrel hybrid look-a-likes called viscacha.
I also got to see at least three festivals which were like love-in-technicolor. I had seen a little "preview" before going to Bolivia, in a small desert town called La Tirana in the north of Chile(which used to be a part of Bolivia), but it was really intense in Bolivia, especially El Gran Poder in La Paz, Bolivia. The usually stoic Bolivians were drinking and dancing in the streets; indeed a merry time for all.
P.S. A HUGE thanks to my friends who recommended many of these destinations for me.
P.P.S. Not to make this an Oscar-accepting speech, but I also want to thank you for your kind words regarding this blog. I really appreciate it!
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