Like an athlete, Juan “Nochi” Coffie maintains a strict diet for two weeks before his big event. He shuns alcohol, goes to bed early, and starts collecting dried cactuses. He is preparing for a marathon—the 26 hours of gleeful musical mobs and soul-cleansing fire jumps that mark the festival of San Juan on the tiny, turquoise-fringed Caribbean island of Bonaire. Every June 23 four villages on the island—Nikiboko, Nord Saliña, Antriol, and Rincon—erupt in song at 8 pm and the performances don’t end until 10 pm the next night. Roving…
