Day 87 - Carnival Parade
February 10 - Sucre, Bolivia
The good food continues. We ate a delicious breakfast of eggs and veggies (and my new coffee!) and went with the German girls to the Carnival parade. People were already lining the streets on chairs, as they would be in preparation for a parade in the US. The kids were armed with espuma (foam spray) and water balloons.
We were hit! Evan got attacked by a kid, took his spuma away and sprayed him back, but meanwhile, his friend sprayed Evan in the face.
We had a spanish lesson so we walked across town, thinking we'd be in the clear away from the parade. We walked through the park, and it was nice and calm. But then, I felt something hit my leg! I looked down in time to see a water balloon crash at my feet. We looked around to identify the culprit. Everyone was minding their own business. We walked on a bit, on edge, looking over our shoulder. Then we noticed a couple walking across the street. And in their hand a bag of water balloons!....They looked sheepishly at us, and we knew it was them! We threw water in their direction, in good fun and continued on.
The streets in Sucre are almost all lined with two stories of buildings on either side - the first story is typically shops or storefronts and the second is homes. Most of the homes have little balconies reaching over the street. These were perfect for water ballooning those walking down the street... we ran from awning to awning, avoiding getting hit. Evan got sprayed again with foam right before walking into the Spanish class building.
Things started to slow down, or so we thought. The bands continued, rounding the city, and playing outside the door of our house every half hour or so. Here's the aftermath:
The good food continues. We ate a delicious breakfast of eggs and veggies (and my new coffee!) and went with the German girls to the Carnival parade. People were already lining the streets on chairs, as they would be in preparation for a parade in the US. The kids were armed with espuma (foam spray) and water balloons.
We were hit! Evan got attacked by a kid, took his spuma away and sprayed him back, but meanwhile, his friend sprayed Evan in the face.
We decided to go find food, so cut through the plaza. This was a mistake. On the street with the parade, people were distracted, so the foam spraying was minimal, and focused between kids. In the plaza, it was like a war zone. Kids and adults having Foam spraying fights, or even worse, acting nonchalant waiting for innocent passersby to spray. Evan was sprayed a few more times.
We seeked refuge at a cafe promising delicious (vegetarian) food.
Evan had a falafel sandwich and I had a typical Bolivian pastry, fried and filled with veggies (right). Both were delicious.
Evan had a falafel sandwich and I had a typical Bolivian pastry, fried and filled with veggies (right). Both were delicious.
We had a spanish lesson so we walked across town, thinking we'd be in the clear away from the parade. We walked through the park, and it was nice and calm. But then, I felt something hit my leg! I looked down in time to see a water balloon crash at my feet. We looked around to identify the culprit. Everyone was minding their own business. We walked on a bit, on edge, looking over our shoulder. Then we noticed a couple walking across the street. And in their hand a bag of water balloons!....They looked sheepishly at us, and we knew it was them! We threw water in their direction, in good fun and continued on.
The streets in Sucre are almost all lined with two stories of buildings on either side - the first story is typically shops or storefronts and the second is homes. Most of the homes have little balconies reaching over the street. These were perfect for water ballooning those walking down the street... we ran from awning to awning, avoiding getting hit. Evan got sprayed again with foam right before walking into the Spanish class building.
At class, we updated our teacher on our experiences, and she warned us to take care...people would get drunker and drunker. Our teacher shared a few pieces of local fruit, "tuna" (pictured below). Really interesting fruit with tough seeds, tasting similar to a melon. Quite nice!
Things started to slow down, or so we thought. The bands continued, rounding the city, and playing outside the door of our house every half hour or so. Here's the aftermath:
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