The following chronicle is the continuation of Part I of IV of Visiting San Ignacio – Province of Misiones.
The next day we visited the Iguazu Falls, located in the city of Puerto Iguazu. The road distance between the two points is between 237 km and 243 km. We spent practically the whole day there, leaving very early and returning after the sun had set in the evening. I have written a separate commentary on that visit:
· Iguazu National Park. The Falls. http://reuniendoletras.blogspot.com.ar/2015/02/parque-nacional-iguazu-cataratas.html
· Ivyra Reta Interpretation Center in Iguazu National Park. http://reuniendoletras.blogspot.com.ar/2015/02/centro-de-interpretacion-ivyra-reta-en.html
After a quite tiring trip, several hours on the road, a lot of walking, and an attack of rain that made us rather tired, everything was worth it, both for sightseeing and enjoying the outing. And on this day, the penultimate day of carnival was taking place before the final of the provincial carnival. So we decided to go see the San Ignacio Carnival.
Around 10 PM we headed towards the part of the city where the Carnival was taking place. We walked five blocks and were already there. The street used was San Martín Street. The official and main grandstand where the judges, authorities, and organizers were located was right in front of San Martín Plaza. Basically, the route covered three or four streets and ended just past the main stage. All of this made up the corsódromo (carnival parade runway). Naturally, we took the easiest and most familiar route for us to get there: Pellegrini - Rivadavia - Hipólito Yrigoyen.
Quite a few young people were also heading over, some in groups of friends, others alone, and others in couples. We arrived and everything was fenced off, with the entrance at the other end. We had to make a U-turn to get in: Rivadavia - Saenz Peña - San Martín. Now we found a fence, a gate, and a small table with two people in charge of selling tickets. The cost was 40 pesos per ticket to the 2015 San Ignacio Departmental Carnival, the 17th Provincial Carnival Festival. It is called the Departmental Carnival because all the comparsas (carnival troupes) from each of the departments making up the Province of Misiones were competing.
When we entered, we followed the path that borders San Martín Plaza on the side of the plaza itself. The other sidewalk, across the street where the main (and only) grandstand was located, was also open for walking and viewing. Right on that corner of San Martín Plaza—the corner leading to the intersection of Hipólito Yrigoyen and San Martín streets, a corner we hadn't passed before—we saw a monument to Evita. It is a monument in homage to Eva Duarte, which can be seen in the photograph, taken at night.
Where we entered was the area where each of the comparsas finished their route. Every now and then, a few security personnel could be seen wearing yellow jackets with the word "security" printed on them, although not a single act of violence occurred—nothing at all. It seemed they were there more to prevent people or children from getting into the path of the comparsas or in case anyone suffered a fainting spell due to the intense heat. The corsódromo was delimited by wooden fences painted in sections with different colors. Behind the fences and up to half of the sidewalk, chairs and tables were set up, or just chairs in some parts. These spaces were rented out; I don't remember the exact cost, but they were around 100 pesos, if memory serves me right. Many kids were playing with foam, sparing no one—both girls and boys attacked everyone with aerosol foam. We had two non-alcoholic blended strawberry drinks (other flavors or combinations were also available) at 30 pesos each. The attendance was estimated at 20,000 people, including locals, tourists, and participants. From the time we arrived, we stayed until the very end, being able to see all the comparsas that paraded down the corsódromo.
Comparsas
The first of them was finishing its route and was made up of small children dressed in blue, black pants, white hats with a long blue feather, and each one with an instrument. They were the Samba Kid’s, a troupe made up of children that opened the show with the first pass. We only saw the end of this pass.
Another participating comparsa in this corso was called Arasy, from the city of San Ignacio. Arasy in Guarani means "mother of creation."
In the following image, a troupe participant carried a particular percussion instrument, which looked like he had crafted it himself by hand. I don't know if out of necessity or preference, but I still highlight and congratulate him for breaking the monotony of the rest, who were all identical. Good for him, a touch of originality. In the same photograph, you can see the participant with the metal snare drum wearing one white shoe and one pink shoe. He didn't make a mistake; all the members of the group went with that two-toned footwear detail.
By law, since 1998, San Ignacio has been the permanent home of the Misiones carnivals. Not only do the comparsas parade, but they are also evaluated by a panel of judges who score each category, and then the winners are chosen. The categories are: Best Troupe, Batucada (percussion ensemble), Float, Dance Troupe, Troupe Solo Dancer, Troupe Standard-Bearer, Dance Couple, King Momo, Batucada Baton Twirler, and Batucada Standard-Bearer. The judges could be seen walking among the comparsas and taking notes based on their observations.
We had positioned ourselves in a spot where we could see very well. Behind us was a metal fence, and behind that an extensive grassy area, looking like a schoolyard or the patio of some institution. We noticed that people had gotten into the habit of tossing all their empty cups of various sizes through the fencing after finishing their drinks. Every so often, on the inner side, a young man would pass by with a bag and pick them up, and every fifteen minutes this gentleman would make another round collecting the cups thrown in there.
What followed apparently seemed to be a subgroup within the Arasy troupe, called "The Origin of the Universe." But that is what I can deduce from some reading on a few websites; I cannot say for sure.
This was a group clearly differentiated from the rest, as seen in the photographs. These participants were costumed as animals, mythological beings, or a mix of both. They seemed to reflect characters from Guarani mythology—some characters resulting from the crossbreeding of other animals. Among them could be seen a "lizard-dog," a "snake-parrot," a "green-horned snake," a sort of gnome or goblin, a sheep with a wild boar's head, the kurupí, the lobisón (werewolf), other characters representing single animals, and some I don't recognize, such as those fairies, witches, or mushroom figures.
In the following photograph, one of the characters represented by a participant can be seen in the foreground, but almost nothing of what is happening behind at ground level is visible. Something rather comical had happened. Some participants represented animals that had to move at ground level—one was the caiman, another the tortoise, and there were several others. The tortoise had to carry its shell on its back, and it had solved this simply by using a backpack filled with crumpled newspaper inside so that the backpack remained light yet puffed out, and painting the exterior to look like a shell. But at one point during its route, the backpack's zipper failed, and the tortoise with its open shell began to lose the paper wads from inside. At that moment, it asked its companion, the caiman, for help to put the paper wads back in as best as possible. In the end, the tortoise continued its path holding the broken backpack zipper closed with one hand.
Another troupe was called Yasí Berá, which in Guarani means "bright moon." The Yasí Berá comparsa is from the town of Santo Pipó.
Apparently, this troupe represented "Marie Antoinette" and the queen's guard provided by a "soldier batucada." Speechless. A former French queen represented in a Misiones Argentine carnival. Of course, the ridicule and the whimsical festive spirit of the representation are understandable. Another troupe that passed by was called Fantasía Sioux. And as their name suggests, they were dressed, as best as they could manage, as North American Sioux aborigines, wearing feather headdresses that were not made of feathers, yet sought—or at least pretended—to show that. Strange.
The comparsa that follows is Los Payaturros. This is a popular street troupe (murga) from San Ignacio. And the truth is they didn't come with the typical murga gear like drums or snare drums. They were all dressed as clowns with quite fierce masks on some of them, "bad clowns" of the scary kind. Nevertheless, they were having fun and targeting the little ones, approaching the edges and giving away candies, lollipops, and balloons to the children. Two very young kids dressed as clowns were also part of the group. The group had prepared a choreography and used a song with a very catchy chorus that went "no, no, no, to the boogeyman, no" ("no, no, no, al coco, no"), and it fit the choreography they had put together really well. Suddenly they would form a circle and then back to their spots. The song is called "Al coco no" and is a cumbia by a certain Roberto Jr. Y Su Bandeño. These guys really suffered from the heat—I imagine because of their clown suits, masks, wigs, socks, and a temperature above 30°C. In front of them went a cart with speakers, carrying water in the middle to stay hydrated as they marched.
In this clown group, there was a character who stood out from the rest and was very well differentiated: a character dressed entirely in black, wearing a wide-brimmed black hat as well. He wore a mask that was, to put it mildly, almost macabre—I don't know if he was a sorcerer, a devil, or what. This character rode around on a bicycle, going back and forth and spinning in circles. He had a doll shaped like a chicken hanging from his neck. At the same time, he held another small doll in his hand, also a chicken with a stretched-out neck and an open mouth acting as a whistle; this character would squeeze the rubber chicken and the little doll would whistle. And so he rode his bicycle, suddenly stopping in front of a spectator, pointing the chicken at them, and making it sound. Then off again, riding around like that. What was the meaning? What did it represent? Possibly some popular belief or urban legend, but honestly, I don't know.
The one that followed seemed to me to be among the best that passed: the Sapucay comparsa from San Ignacio, showing all its experience as it celebrated its tenth anniversary. Lots of color, lots of attire, a large number of members, and some Spanish-style costumes—more of a generic style, but easily identifiable. Comments are redundant; here we go straight to the images.
When the last members of the Sapucay troupe passed by—all dressed in red with black "Spanish-style" berets, all of them being drummers, the troupe's percussion section—one of them, a drummer, broke the drumstick or mallet he was using to beat the drum. It split in half and he couldn't use it anymore. The drummer walked over to the edge of the fence, left it with a spectator, and continued beating the drum with his hand. In the photograph, you can see the lucky person who received the drumstick and kept the mallet, while the drummer continued playing and hitting the drum using only his hand.
The Explosión Samba Show comparsa from Loreto had also passed by. And Ivoty Samba, also from San Ignacio, closed the event. In Guarani, the word yvoty means "flower," and ivoti means "as beautiful as a flower" or "place of many flowers." This troupe seemed to be making a comeback after an absence in past carnivals. It managed to do its run through the corsódromo; there were quite a few signs promoting it, perhaps as a welcome. In my opinion, it wasn't one of the best, but at least it shone like the rest. Amidst dancers, percussion musicians, performers, fantasies, colors, feathers, and joy, the San Ignacio Carnival passed by.
With the carnival event concluded, we withdrew. Since it is a quiet city without major disturbances, we returned to our lodging just as we had arrived, walking the five blocks back. Except for the downtown area, you can walk well on the sidewalk; the rest of the way can be done walking right on the street itself. That was how we were walking back when, a block from our destination, a snail crossed our path, and its size caught our attention. So I took a picture of it. It's not that a snail surprises me—I've seen many—but never one so large. Now, looking on the internet and searching for information about what species it is, I find that it is the giant African snail (Achatina fulica), and it turns out they are a plague in the province of Misiones. They are being studied by the Epidemiology Directorate of the national health portfolio, personnel from the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (SENASA), and provincial Vector Control areas, seeking to control this snail plague because they are hosts to two parasitic zoonoses that affect humans. This snail easily adapts to different habitats, has spread to all tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world, and is considered one of the most damaging pests. It is included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of the 100 worst invasive alien species in the world.
The chronicle of this trip continues in Part III of IV of Visiting San Ignacio – Province of Misiones.
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