Every town and city in Nicaragua (that I know of) has an annual celebration in honour of their patron saint. Sabana Grande had theirs (San Isidro Labrador) back in May, which was a small affair with a religious procession and a small fair in the afternoon. Once you move into the cities though the size of the celebrations grow too. The official patron saint day or Fiesta Patronal is on August 15, but the celebrations run for almost three weeks!
The first sign of things to come was a ferris wheel, and later a full fair-ground set up appearing on an empty lot behind the bus station. I later found out was actually the Plaza de Fiestas – well at least for three weeks of the year, the rest of the time it was just a patch of dirt.
By the time Friday rolled around the place had transformed, with the fairground now accompanied by some sort of temporary structure the size of a football field, clad in a patchwork of old sheets or roofing iron, and rows of tents set up with venders of fried food and cheap plastic toys. Logan, one of the volunteers, and I turned up about half an hour before things were about to get under way at 5pm, how foolish, it ended up being more like 10! Anyway, on arrive we made a beeline for the tent on the far side of the Plaza plastered in Toña logos and sat ourselves down on the white plastic chairs. Not long later were we accompanied by a group of cow boys and their trusty steeds, who were tied up to the flimsy looking posts supporting the structure we were sitting under. Thankfully they never got startled.
After a couple of hours sinking liters of Toña served by some rather masculine looking waitresses we set off to explore the food options, following the scent of char-grilling meat, and various deep-fried goodie, settling in the end for enchiladas. Not the cheesy, saucy enchiladas you probably know, no Nica enchiladas consist of a corn tortilla stuffed with rice and meat, battered, deep fired and served with cabbage salad and copious amounts of sauce… they’re pretty damn good! By this stage Oscar and Meg had joined us just in time to climb aboard one of the decidedly dodgy looking fair ground rides, all part of the experience right?!
We finally filtered into the ramshackle looking Estadio de Toros to await the start of the main event. This was my first rodeo, and most probably my last. While there was a great atmosphere in the crowd, and it was an interesting cultural experience, this archaic display of animal torture is not what I would call entertainment.
Over the next couple of weeks the bustle of the fair-ground became a familiar part of the of the already chaotic bus station scene, surging at the weekend with live music events, which was great! On the 15th were the formal religious proceedings, where a figure of the Virgin Mary was parked throughout the streets, juxtaposed against the evening event of the coronation of the Reina de Ocotal at the beauty queen pageant.
The celebrations climaxed with the Super Carnival in the final weekend, and yes that’s really what it’s called. While it was more of a big street party, it was still a great night out with several live music stages, food stalls and plenty of guys with little trolleys selling Toña… what more could you want! Not content with one big night the following day was the Hipico, an equestrian event, which again seemed mainly like an excuse for a big party – albeit with the a few Toña chugging cowboys on well groomed horses prancing through the streets. But what a party it was, with the main street next to the park complete transformed with not one but two temporary bars, in a set up that looked more like it belonged in a big international festival, and not sleepy little Ocotal.
I walked past the park again this evening, and everything was back to normal, just like nothing had ever happened… until next year.
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