Viva Carnaval!

Carnaval was…well…what you would imagine…insane. And never ending. I thought Carnaval was over at Ash Wednesday…however the parades continue and children with water guns still chase me.

With party origins the same as Mardi Gras, Carnaval is the South American version. Rio de Janiero is famous for it. But in Ecuador, Guarnada, my closest city is known for Carnaval. People come from all over South America to participate. The locals dump water on every passerby and then foam...and then flour. And if you fight back with your own…then egg. Duh duh DUM…



Yep I had it all, foam, flour, quail eggs and of course, water…in every form…from bucket, water balloon, water gun, tube sprayers, hoses, fountains. Being a gringa doesn’t help this. (I like this picture...because you can see a line of foam being sprayed on someone.)



The other key ingredient to Carnaval is parades. Two a day for over a week. They are beautiful. Some just make you mad when you are trying to meet people or catch a bus on the other side of the parade route.




I participated in my community's parade. The picture below shows some of the farmers in front of me.





Here is a mural I painted before Carnaval...and now you know my coordinates...



I had some people to my house for a midday cleaning off and food. We made corn dogs and hot wings…well not really wings, more like boneless chicken breast nuggets. Delicious. And corn dogs have market potential here...hmmm...perhaps a small business project in my future...