On Sunday we went to "La Marcha" which was a parade organized by Casamérica for El Festival Vivamérica 2010. Many Latin American countries (and Brazil!) represented their cultures with everything from salsa to capoeira to people dressed as paper mache ostriches. This video will give you an idea of the ambiance. It was fun to get a taste of Las Américas in Madrid, and although I was aware that there has been a huge influx of latino immigrants to Spain in recent years, I was still surprised to see that the turnout for the parade was largely latino. They came out in droves, and everyone was decked out in the patriotic colors of their country.
Something I experienced in Mexico but had forgotten about is that Latin America does parades differently than we do in the States. At La Marcha, it was totally normal for onlookers to just walk into the parade whenever they wanted to get a picture with a performer. As a result, the parade route continued to get more and more narrow as people nudged their way closer and closer.
The impetus for us going to the parade was to see the free Calle 13 concert. I did not stick around for the concert but did get to see them perform up-close on their float/MAC truck at the tail-end of the parade. The video I took turned out like crap, but you can check out this NSFW video for Atrevete-te-te, probably their most famous song.
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