Egipto's 2014 Three Kings Festival

Beef on the rack. 

This weekend, the normally off-limits Egipto Neighborhood holds its annual Three Kings, or Tres Reyes, Festival, celebrating the three biblical kings who visited the newborn Jesus. The event, a big street party, has little of the sacred about it, however.

But if you like crowds, greasy food, loud music and alcohol, this might be your scene this weekend.

Chicha anybody?

Chicha for sale. 

We've got the beef!

An empenada vendor.

Kids use crushed plastic bottles to slide down Calle 10. 

Buy your name for 300 pesos. 

Obleas de la Negra.

No knives or illegal drugs allowed: Police officers wait to frisk festival visitors. 

A look up into the Egipto Neighborhood.  

Quite a crowd.

The view of Bogotá.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Scenes from Egipto's 2012 Three Kings Festival

A crowded street, with Egipto Church in the background. 

This weekend, the Egipto neighborhood opens up with its annual Three Kings Festival (Festival de los Reyes Magos). Altho the festival is formally religious, I think I saw more sin than sanctity and  more partying than piety while there. But there is lots of eating and drinking and street games.

Egipto is a poor neighborhood above La Candelaria and has a crime problem. Many a tourist has wandered up into its narrow alleys and left behind is camera, cell phone - even his shoes.

A woman plays mini tejo, a miniature version of Colombia's official national sport. 

She didn't win, but she had fun. 

Chicha, a traditional local drink made from fermented corn, competed with beer. 

Bathroom break. 

Incense, to make 2012 a lucky year. 

Foam-covered kids. 

Little girl, big load. 

A local character. 

The crowd fills an ally alongside Egipto Church.

 

Making chocolate by hand. 

Hand-made chocolate.

Police frisked everybody on their way in. This particular guy wasn't allowed in the festival, probably because he was drunk.

Police man a street up into the Egipto neighborhood, where many gringos have wandered, and returned without their cameras, I-phones, etc. 

A great place for carnivores. 

A rapper sings about violence on the mean streets of Bogotá. 

A target-shooting game. 

A German tourist and a local enjoy some cool ones. 

The view downhill toward the city center. 

Older folks people watch from their windows. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Egipto's Celebration of the Three Kings (Fiesta de los Reyes Magos)

Not sophisticated fun, but fun.

Normally, the Egipto neighborhood, above La Candelaria, where tourists do not dare wander, is known for poverty and social troubles. But for a few days in early January, Egipto becomes a center of attencion as it celebrates the Festival of the Three Kings who came to visit the newborn Jesus.

Thousands of people fill the street, to listen to music, eat cholestrol-packed foods, drink beer and chicha and play street games. Oh, yes, there's also religion - an impressive parade, a mass and the burning of the devil at the festival's close. This year, unfortunately, I caught the festival, but not much of the religion. (Most of the other partyers, didn't appear to be looking for religion, either.) See Bogotá Bike Tours' visit here.

Here's a shot, from a previous year, of the kings and other royalty assembled on the church's steps. Local men dressed as Roman gladiators also lined the steps. Then came the mass. The Egipto neighborhood, with one of the city's oldest churches, appears to be quite Catholic - at least on this day, anyway.

And below are some of this year's royalty, in all their pageantry.

Young royals.

Lots of chicha, a traditional drink made of fermented corn.

Ready to cut the beef.

Doña Rosa and friend in the Mercado de Egipto

The view downhill from Egipto

Bike Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours