Gran Poder, Feijoada & Footie

Gran Poder lived up to its wild reputation.

We were herded through a narrow entrance to be able to see the procession then directed away from the dancers by police officers who seemed to be more adept at getting in the way than helping people to clear the road.

Red Paceña (beer) signs were scattered everywhere; as were flags, children and street vendors selling hot, cold and lukewarm produce as fast as is humanly possible. One little boy near me was going crazy, brushing each dancer as they went past, jangling the beads on their back and generally being a nuisance.

The noise was astounding and people from every age group were banging drums or tooting on their trumpets. Young boys dressed up as negritos (black people) shook their shaggy hair. Large signs behind them commemorated when slavery was abolished.

Not very PC face-paint

Next came ´los vacunos´ or the livestock, which was played by diminutive old women. These women are the pasteurisers and compensated for their stature in volume. They swung percussion instruments which turned 360 degrees and produced a high-pitched rattle for three beats then shouted "Ole! Ole!"on the fourth.

Twist & Shake

We had to rush the procession a bit because we had a Brazilian lunch engagement; a ´feijoada´ at Franklin´s. We arrived in Bolivian time, not British because we took ages to find the flat. Bolivian people never admit defeat when it comes to directions and we wandered up and down like muppets until Sharoll called and sorted us out.

All too soon, we devoured our delicious feijoada, drank our caiperinhas and ran down to the football pitch where Helena and Rodrigo were waiting impatiently. If Pacena dominated the festival, coca cola was the key product at the football match and there were giant red inflatable bottles all around us.

You could see patches of red where the Chileans sat amongst a sea of green. A huge scoreboard eventually and predictably announced two ´goooooooooooooooools´ for the Chileans which led to anarchy. 

(Yes I know this guy is from Barcelona but you get the idea!!)

The Chileans were shooting red gunpowder everywhere whilst the Bolivians booed and they even had to stop the game for all the commotion.

A rowdy shout ´fuera fuera fuera Chilenos´ could be heard and we left the stadium early to avoid any hastle.

Further down the road, we realized we had lost Toni. Harry and Deschan set out to find her, fearing the worst; whilst everyone else was concerned but not crazy enough to stay.

She was fine, thankfully although the riots had got worse and some Chileans were sentenced to jail for tearing and pìssing on the Bolivian flag.