Feria-ed Out

Today is the final day of the week-long feria celebrating La Virgen de la Asunción. Usually fairly tranquil, Tactic was a seven-day party complete with dances, carnival rides, parades, a rodeo, traveling salesmen, and makeshift aluminum speakeasies. The main road through town was completely shut down for the week, blocked by a maze of booths selling anything from slabs of coconut candy to knock-off Abercrombie and Puma shirts.

The only thing that put a slight damper on the festivities was the 12-hour downpour earlier this week that flooded part of town and caused destructive landslides. Six people died in Cobán, and 20 families were rescued from the floodwaters here in Tactic. Landslides knocked out homes, destroyed a church, and blocked roads, including the main highway from here to Cobán. Peace Corps’ security coordinator was calling to check on the situation to see if we needed to be evacuated.


That aside here are some highlights from the feria:

Being on the “Zipper” carnival ride while the operator had to climb up to fix it by putting air in the tire (using a hand held bicycle pump) on which the whole thing spun and tightening some bolts. Michelle and I were the only people on the ride…hmm, maybe the Guatemalans knew something we didn’t.

Watching four drunken men at the rodeo (which they actually call “jaripeo” here…but rodeo is a Spanish word) play poker in a ring with a bull to see who could remain seated the longest. Of course, the drunkest guy won.

Spending almost an hour on a ferris wheel that operated at over twice the speed of any in the states (I was told to tuck my hair into my jacket so it wouldn’t get caught in the cable). Our numerous requests to be let off where denied—not in the American, “No” way, but in the Guatemalan “Okay” way that never happens.

Seeing two on-duty police officers drinking beer while directing traffic.

Eating fair food—corn on the cob with ketchup, mustard, and green hot sauce, fried plantain strips, fried breadfruit, french fries (truckloads of gas tanks were brought in just to provide the energy for the fried foods), peanut brittle-esque cookies, and the fore mentioned coconut candy slabs. My waist doesn’t agree that this was a highlight.

Counting the bolos passed out on the sidewalks during the day.


While it was interesting and entertaining, I am definitely ready for the carnies to pack up and leave town. After experiencing my first feria, more than anything, I am just surprised that no one dies during these festivals that take place in every Guatemalan town. A mixture of large quantities of alcohol, exposed engines and moving parts of carnival rides, the carnival rides themselves, drunken men and angry animals, and fireworks is just ripe for tragedy. But everyone survived and will be ready to do it all over again next year.