El Callao

Reading an El Callao carnival parade, character by character

El Callao's carnival parades gather in the town centre in the early afternoon, and the characters follow a set cast. Look first for the madamas, women dressed as Antillean matrons, whom UNESCO calls the communicators of the community's values; they set the tone of the procession before the miners, devils and mediopintos join in.

As the music builds. The mineros, dressed as gold miners, march alongside, a reminder of why the Caribbean families came. The diablos, in masks and carrying whips, patrol the edges and keep order. The mediopintos work the crowd, threatening a smudge of charcoal unless you hand over a donation.

Evening. The season includes calypso concerts in the streets, where the songs carry the memory of the first miners' families from the islands. The El Callao Carnival page covers the festival in more detail.

Read the current UK advice before any plan to attend.

Street arepas and carnival snacks in Bolívar's gold country

At carnival time in El Callao, expect the food of eastern Venezuela sold from stalls and homes along the parade routes. Reliable sources say little about the town's restaurants, so this guide names none that cannot be checked and sticks to what you will find on the street during the festival weeks.

That means arepas filled with cheese or meat, fried empanadas, and plates of pabellón criollo, the national lunch of shredded beef, black beans, rice and plantain. Families with Caribbean roots keep their own recipes alive at festival time, and a meal in a local home is often the best way to taste them.

Bring water, as carnival afternoons are hot and long, and carry small notes for stalls. Keep meals simple and freshly cooked in front of you; with long parade days in tropical heat, a cooked arepa from a busy stall is a safer bet than food that has been standing.

From the 1871 gold mine to a UNESCO calypso

El Callao's carnival grew out of its gold mine. The town dates from the mid-19th century, and the mine that opened in 1871 drew workers from the Caribbean islands of the Antilles, who brought their emancipation celebrations with them; over generations these merged with local traditions into the carnival seen today.

UNESCO inscribed the Carnival of El Callao on its Representative List in 2016, describing a festival from January to March with up to 3,000 participants. Knowledge passes down mainly within families and through schools run by tradition bearers, so children learn the songs and costumes long before they parade. The festival honours its Afro-Antillean ties alongside other influences in the community.

Gold still shapes the town. Reporting suggests far more people live here than the official count of about 25,000, because of informal mining, and the wider mining region is the reason for the UK's current advice against all travel.