Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Monday, February 24, 2020

Carnaval in Ocozocoautla, and thanks from the kids!

It's that time of year when carnaval is going on in many countries. Here in Ocozocoautla, they have been celebrating for over 500 years and the annual event has become quite famous in the area. It's one of the reasons that we hung around a few extra days!

We had been told that you want to get there early... so a bunch of us set out at 8:30am Sunday morning...

We took a bit of a detour along the way just to see something a little different...

We saw quite a few people getting ready for the carnaval parade.

Notice the bells on their legs.

We detoured to see this airplane.
It has been turned into a library and conference center!

Bob, Denise, Ruth, Roy, Sue, Martha, Garth, and Larry.
At the Ocozocoautla sign.

Carnaval is a big deal for this small city of 80,000 people. Different neighborhoods put on different displays for the parade... most of it related to costumes.

This is not the parade.

They are just heading to the parade route.


Lots of powder and spray foam!

You'll see a lot of people wearing masks. They are not worried about coronavirus... they are just protecting themselves from the talcum powder and spray foam! We are not sure of the significance of the powder and foam. We asked a couple of people and they didn't seem to know either.

Another neighborhood.

Here come some more.

Ladies in pink.

People getting lined up for the parade.

We got dusted!

10:15am... things are getting busy!

Parade about to start.

Lots of colorful hats.

Sue got dusted and foamed!






The parade runs for about 8 hours! They keep doing the route over and over again. It's really something else. Then, around 6:00pm they do live music and more partying in the evening.

I took a video for you... turn up your volume...


Even the little ones get dressed up.

Denise and Bob.

Anyone want to buy some snacks?

Lots of food for sale.

Meat roasting.



We had some lunch and headed back to the orphanage around 1:00pm. 

Our fun for the day wasn't finished yet though! We had bought the kids some piñatas when we were out shopping the other day, so around supper time we went over to the hall and watched the kids...

Stuffing the piñatas with candy.

The younger girls.

The younger boys.

The older girls.

The older buys.

Here's a video for you...



The girls made thank you notes for the group!



It says "I feel that the trust and support that another person gives us is something that motivates me a lot especially if it comes from someone from whom we have respect and great appreciation. Thank you for your donation." 

Thank you for your donations!

What a great week we had here. But, it's time to move on. Today is a driving day when we start the trek north! We are heading to Oaxaca city next, but we are breaking the drive into two sections. Stopping at a water park tonight along the way.

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And in Canada...





12 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for giving us a taste of the colourful carnaval and the atmosphere through your pictures and videos! So lively and so original! Must have been pretty tiring, though ...

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    1. You are more than welcome! It was certainly a fun and interesting time to see how they do "Carnaval" here in Ocozocoautla. We loved it an the atmosphere surrounding it, and yes it was tiring. :-)

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  2. In one picture I noticed several people wearing medical face masks.

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    1. Yes, and Kevin had mentioned that in the blog post. There was a lot of talcum powder and foam spray spread around through the whole carnaval experience so the masks stop you from breathing in the powder and spray or from it being thrown into your face by mistake.

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  3. Again, thanks for organizing the donations and sharing these kids story with us. Travel is richest when you aren't merely a passive observer.

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    1. You are most welcome, it was truly our pleasure to do it. And, thank you so much for your donation, you now know that it was spent wisely. :-)

      Yes, you definitely have that right. We can't express how much travel has enhanced our experiences throughout our travels around the world.

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  4. This week has got to be one of the top highlights for me......from the shopping, to the painting and installation of the water pump, the tours to the canyon, punctuated by an awesome Carnaval indeginous celebration and the joy and excitement of the kids breaking the piñatas at the end of the day! WOW! I have no words to describe that day albeit I’m an armchair traveller!!!! Hahaha! Buen viaje mis amigos!

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    1. We are so happy that you have enjoyed our posts from the last week or so. They truly have been fantastic and unique experiences for sure and we have loved every minute of them. We couldn't have done half of the things that we did without the help of you and Paul and many of our other readers, and you and all of them we say "Thank you". :-)

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  5. An 8 hour parade - holy cow! How sweet those kids are...and grateful. Nice they gave you guys cards. I know you've made a big difference in their day to day living over the last couple of years

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    1. I know, crazy, huh! We can't even begin to imagine how exhausting that must have been for the participants in that parade. But wow, what a fantastic parade it was, even if we didn't stick around for it all.

      We loved getting the cards from the children and watching them have so much fun with the pinatas, I think even a few tears were shed. And, we know that they will enjoy the soccer balls, basket balls and volley balls just as much. It sure feels good to help them out. :-)

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  6. The costumed people in the small white masks and colorful hats are called Parachicos and they originated in Corzo, Chiapas. A legend goes along with the costume and the dances.

    Looks like a lot of fun!

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    1. It was a fantastic experience. We found out that this particular carnaval in-cooperates three different cultures into it over the last 500 or so years, the Zoque, Christian and Arabic. It was definitely quite the experience and we loved being part of it. :-)

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