Cuba Carnival last weekend...

Last weekend, Cuba street had its annual carnival. Cuba street is an area known for fun funky alternative things like piercings, vegan pastries, coffee shops, etc. Reminds me of many areas of Portland, except that it is a Pedestrian mall so the road has been paved over and cars are not allowed. There are some fountains and and mini playground features to entertain people eating and drinking; though often the people watching is more than enough entertainment!

But back to the carnival... the actual fair during the day was alright with all the requisite features.

You have crowds and ample people watching


There is a variety of foods served

Several music stages with 20-30 minutes alloted to each act so you have a lot of variety

Kids dancing is a key ingredient for me and this youngster in particular was entertaining as he ran around with sticks.

My father would have been very disturbed by the number of kids running with eye destroying implements, but I choose amusement as my response – particularly when he saw this young man's juice container sitting between the man's knees. The young boy ran over with this sticks and began to beat the container. While some men would pull away to protect their 'jewels' this chap just laughed and encouraged the kid. It was lovely actually seeing the crowd interact with all the dancing kids.

That said, although the standard food, music, crowds, and kids were present there were a few other things that seemed different. I was particularly struck by the number of people hanging out. They were hanging out in trees

out windows




and even on couches they'd dragged to the middle of the closed off streets!


But the very best part was the night 'illuminated' parade. The streets filled with on lookers and there was a relaxed feeling to it. People were not kept an arms length away, candy was thrown into the crowd, and water and bubbles were also allowed!

It was a Rio theme, so there were many dancers... some very bravely showing quite a bit of skin.

People were exuberant and very glad to be part of the various floats

and I really loved these skeletons on this crazy bike contraption....




There were some other amazing parade moments, but my camera battery unfortunately died halfway through. The Wellington airport sent one of their fire trucks, which was shooting bubble/foam out of a cannon on the back of the truck. Just behind them were dozen of fire poi dancers... a good combo, until the kids start running into the bubbles to play with the fire dancers only feet away. But no one seems to get hurt.

There were also acrobats dangling from mini cranes driving through town, marching bands, and girls in heels playing with soceer balls by kicking them into the crowd!  Flikr has lots of photos under cuba st carinval and cuba street carinval.