From Rio’s Carnaval to Mexico’s Day of the Dead, Latin America is famed for its festivals. Joanna Booth offers her pick of the best
Any visitor to Latin America is likely to stumble across one festival or another during their visit.
Fiestas come thick and fast, and both religious and secular celebrations are ingrained in traditional culture. As well as providing an exciting highlight to any trip, they’re perfect opportunities to interact with the locals.
Day of the Dead, Mexico
November 1-2 2008
Los Dias de los Muertos is the time when Mexicans remember their dead – but it’s a time for rejoicing rather than sadness.
Townspeople dress as skeletons and ghosts and parade through the streets. Families leave their doors open, with trails of petals leading the spirits of the dead inside to altars covered with fruit, flowers and special sweet bread. People spend the whole night in candlelit cemeteries honouring their relatives and give sugar and chocolate skulls to wish each other a long life.
Mexico Tourism Board UK director Manuel Diaz Cebrian said: “The best places to experience the festival are in Oaxaca state and at the Lake of Patzcuaro in Michoacan, where the local fisherman sail boats full of candles down the rivers. Ask questions and you will be welcomed into the celebrations, but be sensitive when using your camera.”
After the party: Explore Mexico City before heading down for the celebrations in Oaxaca, and then make for the south Pacific coast for sunbathing or surfing.
Sample package: Journey Latin America offers a nine-night Mexico City, Oaxaca and the beach tour, from £809 excluding flights.
Rio Carnival, Brazil
February 21-24 2009
Without doubt the daddy of all the festivals is Carnaval, celebrated all over Latin America but nowhere so famously as in Rio de Janeiro. The whole city comes alive with riotous and colourful street parties, and the crowning glory of the festival, the parade of samba schools in the huge, purpose-built Sambadrome.
Sambadrome tickets are released in November and December the previous year and can be hard to come by, though tour operators often have an allocation. Running alongside the parades are numerous balls and street parties where you can dance until dawn.
Mix with models and socialites at the Copacabana Palace if you can afford it – tickets to this black-tie event cost £200.
For visitors seeking a more intimate carnival experience, there are plenty of options. Embassy of Brazil Tourist Office spokesman Tom Falcao said: “Try visiting one of the smaller cities such as Salvador or Recife. There’ll be parties and balls even in the smallest towns – the whole country celebrates.”
After the party: Rio has beaches and sights aplenty, including Sugar Loaf Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. Continue by flying to Manaus and exploring the rainforest or taking a cruise down the Amazon.
Sample package: Two weeks in Rio with Jingando Holidays costs from £1,399 excluding flights. Price includes learning to dance and parading in the Sambadrome.
Semana Santa, Guatemala
Easter week
Catholicism dominates in Latin America and Holy Week is celebrated with pomp and splendour. Easter is particularly spectacular in Antigua, Guatemala.
Locals cover the streets in brightly coloured decorative carpets of flowers and coloured sawdust, some half a mile long. Images of Jesus are carried on the shoulders of devotees, and the Easter story is re-enacted in full.
Kate Wharton of Steppes Travel said: “The most impressive processions, which last up to 12 hours, take place on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Palm Sunday. They’re colourful, but sombre, with clouds of incense rising from the alleyways.”
After the party: Visit Lake Atitlan, surrounded by volcanoes in the Guatemalan highlands, and the ruined Mayan city of Tikal.
Sample package:Bales Worldwide offers 10 days in Guatemala from £1,850 including return flights, sightseeing and some meals.
Inti Raymi, Peru
June 24 2009
Visit Cuzco for Inti Raymi and plunge into the ancient world of the Incas. Locals dress up as priests, nobles and soldiers to celebrate the festival of the sun. Starting in the town square of Cuzco the procession, led by the Inca king and queen, climbs up the nearby hill to the fortress of Sacsayhuamˆn, where there are prayers, music and dancing.
Explore product manager for the Americas, Jason Beevis, said: “The ascent is steep so many may prefer to take a bus rather than walk, but once there the setting is dramatic, on walled terraces overlooking the valley. There’s a lot of spectacular local colour and the parties run into the night – they know how to have a good time in Cuzco.”
After the party: Treks and trains to Machu Picchu start from Cuzco, so you can see the ancient city whatever your fitness level. Take the train to Puno, on the shore of Titicaca, the highest navigable lake on the planet. You can tour the lake and visit the Uros islands, made from reeds.
Sample package: Explore offers a 15-day Peru tour which combines Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca with Inti Raymi. Departing June 13 2009, the tour costs £2,059 per person including flights, transfers, 13 nights’ accommodation and guiding.
Best of the rest
International Costa Maya Festival: Belize, August
All five Mayan countries – Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – contribute to a cultural celebration with parades and music, set on the stunning Ambergris Caye. Go with: Bales Worldwide
Dia de la Tradición: Argentina, November 10
Saddle up, or merely watch as San Antonio de Areco’s gauchos demonstrate their riding skills and cook up huge barbecues. Go with: Last Frontiers
Feria de Cali: Colombia, December 25-30
A salsa festival with horse parades, bullfights and plenty of partying. Young Spanish speakers will enjoy it most. Go with: Journey Latin America
Tapati Rapa Nui: Easter Island, late January and early February
A celebration of the island, with theatre, dance, and a competition to be queen of the festival. Go with: South American Experience
Qoyllur Riti: Peru, mid-June
In the Sinkara valley, locals climb the glaciers and retrieve crosses set on top, and bring blocks of ice home on their backs. Go with: Travel2/Travel4
