Life in Cartagena

I finish early on Wednesday afternoon/evening (take your Spanish/English choice) As I walked home this evening I had a little chuckle on seeing the inner cones of some of the Klu Klux Klan hats, used in the Eater parades, parked besides the table of a coffee shop. Their owners were enjoying a drink and a chat. Monday evenings I'm not so fortunate. I finish at 10, when both Brits and Spaniards agree, it's night. This Monday there were people in military uniforms on the streets, more people sporting those long silvered staffs (hachotes) used by the penitents in the various processions and several more were carrying a thick glossy brochure with a picture of a bleeding Christ on the front. Cartagena is definitely  revving up for Easter.

Easter is big in Cartagena. During Holy Week the brotherhoods, generally dressed in the tall Klu Klux Klan type hats, parade with military precision through the streets, often in the dead of night, to muffled drum beats whilst carrying huge carved religious statues on their backs. My language exchange pal, Carlos, told me a story about how one of the statues, Saint Peter, was maintained by the Navy. In order to pay for the upkeep of the float, for the costumes and other paraphernalia he is employed by the Navy and receives a salary. At Easter he gets his only shore leave of the year. An admiral sends him on his way with strict instructions to be back by midnight. But Saint Peter doesn't do as he's told and when he gets back to barracks he's drunk - he sways from side to side and he gets locked in the brig till next Easter for his disobedience. It sounded like a strange story and one at odds with what I understood to be the sobriety of the events with floats called ...