Carnaval de Barranquilla

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After trying to figure out for days how we were going to get up the coast from Cartagena to Barranquilla, we finally lucked out today and ran into Valentin!! Valentin is the nicest cab driver we experienced in Cartagena and was on the street as we exited car rental places because we were getting desparate in finding transportation to the city of Barranquilla where the 2nd largest carnaval in South America (only behind Rio de Janeiro in Brazil) was taking place! Valentin spoke slightly more English than Greg and I's Spanish and offered us a great deal (only 400 Mil pesos! $240 USD) to take us, show us around, and bring us back. SO WORTH IT! We picked up some cervesas for the ride (because that is legal here), and headed north up the coast.

After two pee stops, we finally made it to Barranquilla. It is a gorgeous little town and the carnival was huge! The parade had started by the time we arrived and Valentin helped us find where it was taking place and hooked us up with a spot on a trailor so we could look over the crowd and see the floats. Very cool. The best part of the parade and carnival was the tradition of spraying foam on everyone! LOVED IT!

We had a late lunch after and then headed back to Cartagena. Things could have gotten crazy there had we been in our early 20's, but luckily we were spent after only 5 hours or so.

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