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Cabilde de San Diego
The official title of the festival is "Fiestas de Independencias de Cartagena de Indias", not to be mixed with the Miss Colombia 2006 beauty competition held at the same time.
During the festival weeks Cartagena is taking about 10 days off to party, though there are no official holidays. Banks are closed, very few shops, restaurants or offices will continue to work before tuesday after the fiestas. The carnaval moves from neighbourhood to neighbourhood day by day. Most attractive processions are the "Cabilde de San Diego" and the "Cabilde de Getsemaní" with invited groups from Barranquilla and Bogotá. The biggest and most poular procession is "El Bando" on thursday: This event ends on Plaza de las Coches, you should be able to watch it on our Live Webcam.
To find about the schedule of the processions check the local newspaper, ask around or just follow the crowd. Be aware that parties are wild: People throw flour, splash water, beer or paint over the croud, touch you, grab you for a dance etc. You should wear old clothes, avoid taking cameras and documents or at least put them into a plastic bag.
During the festival the popular beauty queens get elected and crowned. A more upscale event is the official Miss Colombia event at the same time, though it is not directly related to the indepence festival. Miss Colombia 2006-2007 final event will be held on Monday, 13th of November in the Convention Centre of Cartagena. As the entrance fee is quite expensive most Colombians watch the show broadcasted on TV: Miss Colombia celebration usually has higher ratings than the finals of the Football World Cup.
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Cartagena
