Our visit to La Boca continued with a stop in the Caminito, a small street full of colorful houses and buildings.
La Boca has the reputation of being a bit rough around the edges, but in this area it is completely touristy.
While originally there was a stretch of colorful houses that reputed became that way because they used spare paint from the ships, it is now full blown style of the entire area.
Busloads of tourists pile off, wander the streets a bit, and pile back on. But it provides lots of income to the neighborhood so I guess it works.
Throughout the neighborhood are a number of fiberglass statues. With the current Pope being from Buenos Aires he is a favorite subject.
Apparently his twin with a soccer player.
The shops have taken over old buildings and are amusing to wander through them.
Most of the restaurants have a small dance floor where local dancers work hard for tips.
La Boca – sort of a funky Times Square for Buenos Aires. You have to see it when you are in town.
Everyone knows that Carnaval ends on Fat Tuesday. For whatever reason the good people of Vicente Lopez, a huge Buenos Aires suburb, don’t seem to care that date has passed. They had their Carnaval 5 days later!
This worked perfectly for me as I was on an airplane coming back from North America for the large parade downtown. Completely disappointed I missed my chance, I was elated that I was given a second chance in Vicente Lopez.
The parade was long enough it started in the hot sun of the day and ran into the night. And it was everything you could hope for from an Argentina Carnaval Parade – Murgas (drum crews), dancers, elaborate costumes, and general fun.
Enough fun this posting is 44 photos long!
After what seemed like the final group came through and we left we ran into one more group who was clearly late to the parade!
What a parade it was. While it obviously isn’t Rio, it was far better than we could’ve hoped for, and an experience that will live with us for a long time.
Once a year many of the embassies located in Washington have an open house, officially known as The Around the World Embassy Tour.
This was the event we went to Washington for, and it didn’t disappoint. On this busy Saturday the embassies were open from 10-4. We had selected 14 from over 50 that were open. In the end we visited 17, but only 6 that were on our original list – regardless it was a great time.
Easily the best part was meeting the people from around the world. Each embassy had a variety of people – artists, musicians, delegates, and just regular folks from their home country. In the Peru embassy we met the artist Mario Arcevedo Torero.
Our morning continued down the street at the Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago, A recurring theme soon began that the smaller countries had the most lively groups.
At the Iraqi embassy we met this artist and his traditional (yet electrified) guitar.
India’s was so popular they took over the nearby street and had a concert, with the traditional dancers, as well as a drum circle.
The visit to Albania was great as well – really tasty free food, traditionally costumed people, and a free shot of alcohol at the end!
There were numerous people in their traditional dress.
Despite tasting our way through 7 countries we had lunch in Costa Rica. As with the others it was nice to taste the local foods.
While many had small tastes of food and drink, some had food lines set up for a nominal fee – it was well worth it.
The Dominican Republic was a lively place as well.
In addition to the dancers there were a number of craftsmen, including this chain saw artist who makes amazingly small items using a chain saw (and seemingly still has all his fingers).
The Korean Cultural Center featured dancers as well.
The second act we saw was a drum line. It is interesting that the cultures from around the world tend to use similar items for their entertainment – dance and drums.
The Haitian embassy featured an artist doing paintings on site.
Meanwhile over at Cote d’Ivoire the greeters wore traditional headdresses.
They also had a display of costumes.
This artist was proudly displaying her work – it was beautiful.
Ah Belize…. What a party….
Before you even entered the grounds you couldn’t help but feel the energy of the party.
People were dancing in front – people were dancing in back.
People from very different cultures were jamming out to the Belize party. Ironically they were next door to the Muslim Center, which we visited in what I would expect should be quiet respect, but you could still hear the party next door – hopefully they get along ok.
We went through a very quiet and strangely austere Brazilian embassy, then headed on up the street to see these two colorful ladies….
Coming from Bolivia! They had a number of dancers performing their traditional dances.
And posed for a group photo at the end of their act.
This older guy was very active in his dance.
And with that we ended our amazing day at the Embassy Open House. This is one you need to put on your list!
The high school rowing crew is out for their morning practice…
We are in Molokai!
We have a full day of traditional Hawaiian events planned. Our driver Hans has arrived to pick us up.
Molokai is a beautiful island, very sparsely population.
We took the main road (!) to the far east end of the island.
Stopping at the overlook…
We were at the Halawa Valley for a day of traditional Hawaiian culture.
The valley features a beautiful cove and beach.
The Solatorio family has lived in this valley for many generations. This valley is Hawaii’s oldest continuously inhabited community.
Pilipo Solatorio was chosen at age 5 to be the cultural practitioner for his family. He has carried on his cultures traditions and practices, educating natives and visitors with his stories and songs.
One of the stories he told was surviving the 1946 tsunami.
His son Greg is carrying on this tradition. Below he demonstrates how to make Poi out of Taro.
The remains of the church in the woods is one of the few structures that survived the tsunami.
Hey I left my car in the woods and now there are trees growing through it. In reality Hawaii has a real problem with people abandoning cars; these were less than 200 yard from the beautiful beach.
After our day with the Hawaiian family we headed back to the docked ship to get ready for our evening event. But first, another sunset with the evening rower.
Hans returned (with his van’s disco lights in full function) to take us to our evening event.
We went to the Molokai History Center for a pa’ina (feast). The hostess explained the traditions of food and music for the pa’ina, then we enjoyed an amazing meal.
Traditional Hawaiian dancers entertained us along with the beautiful guitar music. An amazing evening to end a fantastic week.
Once again, a thanks to Captain Gavin and the Uncruise crew. (and we must bring good karma to their cruises, as we didn’t have any rain in Hawaii either!).
As noted previously the Kona region is famous for their coffee. Each November they have a festival to celebrate this, as well as the local culture.
Our emcee was a hoot, sort of a Hawaiian Cheech Marin.
In addition to the coffee there were other activities occurring, including a lei making contest. The judges were very thorough, checking for stitching and display.
All were beautiful and very different from the stereotype that you see in the media of the ring of flowers.
There were numerous coffee growers offering samples, as well as educational displays.
The highlight was the entertainment though. We saw a number of dance performances.
The region has a number of immigrants from Japan and the Philippines, which is where these ladies came from.
This group had a very lively audience participation dance.
Many of the dances were similar, yet unique in their own way.
All ages participated.
The final dance was a traditional hula.
Afterwards they posed for a group photo. Hang loose dude (the hand gesture)!
Once the dances were complete a Hawaiian guitar band took the stage. They were very talented.
We even met the queens.
But it was time to catch our home for the next 7 days, a small boat that will take us to new adventures. But first another great sunset.
Twice a year a campground near the town of Loudonville hosts a Native American Pow Wow, which is a celebration featuring Native Music/Chants, Dancers, Crafts and skills.
First up was a fire starter – who was able to lite a fire with a bow, wood and (I believe) flint in about 30 seconds with some dry grass.
There were numerous craft booths featuring Native items.
Some made onsite
The hoop dance was excellent, as the dancer was able to pick up and feature 9 hoops with grace and ease. It is not a traditional dance, most recently added in the 1930s.
The opening ceremony featured all the dancers arriving in an ‘inter-tribal’ dance.
Interestingly there was an amazing amount of patriotism displayed.
The costumes were very ornate.
There were 3 drum circles who provided the singing/chanting and drums for the dancers. The drummers were very impressive.
It was a great day of watching a celebration of traditional Native American culture.
