Carnival 2012

Getting Sprayed

One of the good things about living in Ecuador is the unbelievable amount of holidays they have. Almost every month there is some occasion to take a day or two off work and what better occasion than Carnival, which popped up at the end of March. Despite what you see on the television each year, Carnival is a festival celebrated not just in Brasil, but in all of Latin America. Each country celebrates it a little differently and for Ecuador it is celebrated by spraying water and coloured foam over everyone......as well as the normal fiestas!!!

Along with Maisa and her family (and with an extra long weekend ahead of us), we took the 4 hour ride down to Tena, on the edge of the Amazon Jungle. When we arrived to the town on the first night, the party was already in full swing. In one of the main squares, the town of Tena had set up a huge stage for a musical concert, surrounded by food stalls and many a local selling foam in a spray-can. It wasn't long before all of us were dancing and naturally - spraying each other with foam. I would like to think that little Domi enjoyed herself the most but actually the fun was definitely shared by adults and children alike. The party went on late into the night and by the end - we were all covered head-to-toe in foam and soaking wet.

The following day, we carried on our adventure by heading to our favourite river near Tena and going for a swim under the strong heat of the Ecuadorian sun. We also brought food along with us this time and cooked up a big BBQ at the designated area, located on the river bank. It was perfect. That night we stayed at a fancy lodging, which had very cool individual wooden huts. In the dining area there was a film showing. It was based on a true story about a group of Americans trying to make contact with a native tribe from within the Ecuadorian part of the Amazon. At that time (1960's or so), this tribe had not had contact with the outside world. The tribes-men ended up killing some of the American's with spears thinking they were a threat before they eventually all made friends. Some of the Americans ended up staying in the jungle with the tribe for the rest of their lives. The film focused however around one tribes-women who spent a lot of time with the Americans and ended up learning to speak English. While we watched the film, Maisa realised that this woman was her friend's (Lilly's) grandmother. Lilly and her grandmother both live close to where we were watching this film (Puyo) and where the whole film is set. Her grandmother and their village still live in the jungle and in a very primitive way although Lilly has moved somewhat away from this basic life, especially considering that Maisa knows Lilly from university!!!

The following day we continued on our way. I can't remember the small town that we ended up at, but where-ever it was the Carnival party was in full swing. We had to walk some way to get to the party. As we passed the town, there was the usual food stalls selling, well the usual food. However, there was one stall selling Witchetty Grubs for eating. If you don't know what these things are - it is best not to know. Living in the jungle, these grubs are like small fat worms. The slide along the ground by somehow wiggling their bodies in a motion a bit like a slinky. Out here you can eat them cooked or alive. Now, I have eaten some pretty crazy things during my travels. Snake, crocodile, grasshopper and guinea pig to name just a few, but there was something about this thing that I just couldn't stand to bring it anywhere near my mouth. Out of everyone, only Maisa's sister - Jessy had enough guts to try it. She said it was pretty tasty actually.

The party was a bit chaotic. A large area next to a river had been turned into a concert. Music and more foam was the main attraction once again and even though I was now sick of foam, it was still enjoyable. Actually, for some reason I ended up making a foam-spraying enemy with a 10 year old Ecuadoian boy who made it his sole mission to only spray me. The only bad thing about the festival is that some of the foam they use is cheap and it is also coloured, so by the end your cloths are completely stained. I'm now saving these clothes for if I am here for next years Carnival party. We spent our last night at Maisa's home in Banos. When we arrived there was no electricity as the Coello's hadn't been to this house for quite some time. Amazingly Mauri somehow seemed to hot-wire the property. Using the power-line that is located just outside, he ran a couple of wires from it to the generator of the house and essentially stole electricity directly from the grid. Two things about this event surprised me - one, that it is actually possible to hot-wire a house and 2, that Mauri somehow didn't end getting electrocuted!!!

The next day we headed back to Quito. It was a great trip and certainly nice to be a part of the Carnival celebrations. For me, it was now back to work, and with an active volcano on my hands - it was certainly going to be a busy time. The vacation was definitely needed though, it was a lot of fun and one big adventure. However, it would take me about 4 days to dry off...............