El Berrinche Ambiental

This week Granada hosted the Second International Street Art Festival “El Berrinche Ambiental”. Circus artists from all over the world (US, Central America and Europe) regaled us with their many talents. Sophia was especially excited to see them since she used to take Circus classes in Seattle. She is also the proud owner of a unicycle and several juggling paraphernalia in case you didn’t know.

These artists mingled with the commoners during the day and taught them how to juggle or balance, fold a bird that can flap its wings, paint the sidewalk or their faces and much more.

At night, they would perform in the streets of Granada. We caught their show on Plaza de Los Leones and I have included a video from that night for your viewing pleasure. I usually try to be quiet during the taping since I am closest to the microphone but these guys did something really gutsy. It starts at around 0:50 seconds and culminates with me screaming at 0:59 sec. If you watch the video, you may understand why… ENJOY.



Tonight was the last day of the festival and after a parade through town, the artists gathered at Plaza de Los Leones again for a grand finale. The show was absolutely amazing. It included a lot of local children that had been practicing with the artists all week and were now showing off their newly acquired skills such as walking on stilts, juggling the Diablo and some acrobatics.

Some of you - who know the owner of the local gym - might not be surprised to hear that he was part of the show. He was supposed to be the henchman on stilts complete with metal chain around his neck but since one of his long legs snapped, he had to improvise and thus became a dog. A very handsome one, I might add. And he sported a new hairdo – a Mohawk. As you can see, he is still the same old W that we know and love.

Once the show was over, the whole plaza erupted in music and everyone started dancing in the square. It was one huge party with people throwing water at each other.

After a while, we decided to grab some food and walked to La Calzada to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves typical Nica food. The Calzada is always fun since we enjoy people-watching and are also quite entertained by the street vendors.

Today we met Jimmy whose father loved Jimmy Hendrix so much that he named his son after him. Jimmy lives in Managua but he peddles his fare (pirated copies of international movies) in Granada since it is much safer here.

Then there was the guy who sells maracas. He showed us how he carves patterns into them and your name if you want him to. It was unbelievable. The guy had two simple tools and was standing by the side of our table while making art.

Having an artista in our midst has shown us how much work is required to manage a simple handstand or to juggle three balls, to paint an oil picture or to carve a pattern into clay. And here we see all of these amazing people showcasing their talents on the streets for a couple of Cords a night. We have a lot of appreciation for them.

Our favorite troupe is the group of break-dancers who either are double-jointed, don’t have any bones in their body or defy gravity. It is mind-boggling to see how they can move.

Our family had meanwhile finished dinner and decided to walk back home. While recounting the events of the evening, we noticed a guy on a bicycle who seemed to follow us across Parque Central. We turned around in time to realize it was our waiter who was bringing us the check complete with Paul’s credit card and ID. He was so happy that he had caught up with us. Not only was he able to get Paul’s signature, he could also return the cards. After shaking our hands several times, he rode back to the restaurant. You gotta love the Nicas.