Discover the weird and wonderful in Latin America

Latin America is home to some of the world’s most famous festivals and events, including the Rio carnival and Mexico’s ‘Day of the Dead’ celebrations, but there are also a number of more alternative and quirky events taking place year-round. Travel specialist Journey Latin America has compiled a list of some of the top ‘weird and wonderful’ events coming up in 2009, from radish carving to ox cart racing.

Journey Latin America can provide itineraries and packages for all of these events and more.

JANUARY

National Folklore Festival, Argentina
24th January – 1st February 2009
Running for over 45 years, Cosquín's National Folklore Festival sees some of Argentina's most illustrious musicians and dancers converge on the town for a rare spectacle of Argentinean and Latin American music and dance.

FEBRUARY

Rio Carnival, Brazil
21st – 24th February & 28th February
Held 40 days before Easter and drawing people from all over the globe to participate, carnival in Rio de Janeiro is known worldwide for the elaborate parades staged by the city’s major samba schools in the Sambadrome.

The Havana Jazz Festival, Cuba
8th – 17th February 2009
The Havana Jazz Festival, organised by Chucho Valdés, is an internationally renowned event that consistently attracts an excellent line-up, with performances at venues around the city.

MARCH

Buenos Aires Tango Festival, Argentina
28th February – 8th March 2009
First held in 1999, some of the world’s top dancers perform for the adoring public with tango classes for beginners and master classes for the more experienced dancers all provided free throughout the festival.

National Day of the Ox Cart Driver, Costa Rica
8th March 2009
The celebrations for the National Day of the Ox Cart Driver in the quaint village of San Antonio de Escazú includes a procession of old and traditionally painted ox carts being pulled by the faithful oxen from the town hall to San Antonio church.

APRIL

San Marcos National Fair, Mexico
18th April – 17th May 2009
Mexico’s oldest fair, the Feria Nacional de San Marcos, pulls in thousands of revellers for three weeks of mayhem in the heartland town of Aguascalientes, which is one of the best places to head for bullfights.

Xochimilco Festival of the Prettiest Flower, Mexico
1st – 8th April 2009
Xochimilco's La Flor Mas Bell, dating back to pre-colonial times, sees local women hoping to be crowned this year’s ‘prettiest flower.’

MAY

Festival of the Virgin of Lujan, Argentina
8th May 2009
More than four million people visit the town of Luján each year to pay homage to the patron saint of Argentina, the Virgin of Luján.

Festa do Divino Espirito Santo, Brazil
Date to be confirmed
Each year the people of Parati celebrate the ten-day Festa do Divino Espírito Santo festival by crowning an Emperor, distributing food among the poor and giving sweets to children.

JUNE

Boi Bumba, Brazil
28th – 30th June 2009
One of South America’s great parties, Boi Bumba is a riot of colour, dancing, pageantry and parades on an island deep in the Amazonian jungle. Surrounded by more than 1000km of rainforest on all sides, the isolated location is key to making the festival special for the sixty-thousand plus crowd during this three day event.

Devil Dancers Festival, Venezuela
Date to be confirmed
Fired by rum, performers dressed as devils play drums, dance madly, and generally stir up merry hell in the streets from dawn to dawn, while there are also big church services and cross-carrying parades.

JULY

Guelaguetza, Mexico
16th July 2009 – 23rd July 2009
La Guelaguetza is one of the most important cultural events in the Mexican festival calendar. It involves re-enactments of legends, as well as celebrating traditional music, dance, costume, craft, pageantry and gastronomy taken from the seven regions that make up the state of Oaxaca.

Fiesta del Fuego, Cuba
3rd – 9th July 2009
The week-long raunchy street party known as the Fiesta del Fuego takes place in Santiago de Cuba on Cuba's east coast and is one of the biggest and most popular parties in Cuba.

AUGUST

Medellin Flower Fair, Colombia
1st – 14th August 2009
This colourful celebration, which has been going strong since 1957, sees the centre of Medellín bursts into flames of colour and sweet smells during the Flower Fair.

Fiesta of the Virgin of Copacabana, Bolivia
Date to be confirmed
Every year, thousands of people descend on the town to pay penitence and to revere the sight of the Virgin. Others come in the hope the Virgin will grant their wishes. If you climb the calvary (the steps to the church) you can see pilgrims praying to the Stations of the Cross.

SEPTEMBER

Pamplonada, Mexico
19th September 2009
Foolhardy runners take to the streets to be chased by charging bulls at the annual San Miguelada, Mexico's version of Pamplona's running of the bulls, held in San Miguel de Allende.

Belize National Day, Belize
Three weeks from 5th September 2009
Belize’s National Day starts on the first weekend of September, with carnival parades, firework displays and all-night parties on pearl-white beaches to commemorate defeating the Spanish in 1798, and culminate with a huge party on Independence Day on 21st September.

OCTOBER

San Pedro Mole Festival, Mexico
Date to be confirmed
Mole is a pre-Colombian recipe with a huge following in Mexico. The fair dates back to 1978 and takes place in the mole capital, San Pedro Atocpán, which boasts some 50 mole mills.

Hip Hop in the Park, Colombia
Date to be confirmed
Hip-Hop al Parque is Bogotá's festival of beats and rhymes and has taken place annually since 1968, providing two days of bass and hip-hop.

NOVEMBER

Day of the Dead, Mexico
1st – 2nd November 2009
All of Mexico stops during the first two days of November for a nationwide communion with the dead, known as the Día de los Muertos. This is more joyful occasion than you might expect, as it’s both a time for the remembrance of loved ones and a celebration of the eternal cycle of life and death.

Colombian National Beauty Contest, Colombia
Date to be confirmed
The town of Cartagena on Colombian's Caribbean coast hosts the country's annual National Beauty Contest, where beauty queens from each of Colombia’s regions compete for the coveted title.

DECEMBER

Radish Night, Mexico
23rd December 2009
La Noche de Rábanos is one of the most unique folk art festivals in the world and takes place every year in Oaxaca. Artists carve freshly dug radishes into representations of small animals and human figures to grand dioramas of the Nativity.

La Quema del Diablo, Guatemala
7th December 2009
By late afternoon on 7th December each year, town and cityfolk have cleared their homes and erected vast heaps of rubbish on the streets. By 6pm the piles are set alight and throngs of onlookers gather round to celebrate an ancient tradition called La Quema del Diablo (The Burning of the Devil).

For further information about any of the festivals, as well as prices and package information, log on to Journeylatinamerica.co.uk.