Carnaval

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  La Paz, Bolivia
Monday, February 4, 2008

Well, it's carnaval time in south america.  when we got into la paz last week all the tour agencies were selling trips to oruro for their carnaval parade. we decided we'd go, since it seemed so big.  we got on a bux at 330 saturday morning and drove to oruro with a stop in pachamaya for a breakfast of greasy eggs, french fries and fried onions.  that was real tasty at 630 in the morning.  we arrived in oruro around 9 and went to find our seats.  after much debate between our travel guides and the people already sitting there, we settled in to our rather uncomfortable seats.  the parade was already underway at that point.  it was very interesting to see the people in their traditional clothes and fancy costumes.  there were bands and dancers.  very cool. 

after lunch ismael and i sat on the street for awhile before heading back to our seats.  this time we sat on the bottom bleachers. not the smartest thing

carnaval 1

.  besides the dancers and the costumes, carnaval is infamous for water fights and spray foam.  luckily the tour agency provided us with ponchos.  no one would bother the people in the parade, but as soon as a group walked past, chaos ensued.  war broke out between our bleachers and those across the street.  water balloons were launched back and forth.  the foam doesn't reach that far, but anyone who decided to walk past us, or even stand up, got sprayed from every angle.  people were completely covered.  a girl down the bench from us decided that ismael was her main target, but she was rather sneaky about it.  she would spray and then quickly hide her can so we couldn't figure out who was getting us.  at one point i caught her friend attacking us, so i grabbed our can and stood to defend my love's honor.  big mistake.  someone from behind us shot me down.  when i turned to retaliate, three or four more people joined in my killing, along with a few balloons.  they acted as if i was the one in the wrong.  how dare they!  needless to say, things were rather chaotic.  after awhile, it seemed to settle down as people ran out of balloons and foam. 

as it got closer to the time for us to leave, i was ready.  my legs and butt hurt immensely from the uncomfortable bus and the wooden benches.  and 10 hours of the same parade gets to be rather boring.  seriously, it was 10 hours of the same music, the same kinds of dancers and people in costumes.  and that was only the 10 hours we were there.  it started before we got there and went on long after we left.  but i heard that as the night goes on and people have more and more to drink, it gets even crazier, lasting until 4 in the morning. 

our bus left at 8, which put us back in la paz around 12

decorated truck

.  as we left oruro, though, everyone was already falling asleep.  i saw a sign out my window as we neared a roundabout that said la paz straight, cochabamba right.  our bus went right.  i thought that was weird, but i wasn't driving the bus, so what did i know.  about 5 minutes later the bus slowed and i heard the driver say something about cochabamba.  i turned to our guide and told him what the sign had said.  so, thanks to me, we turned around and headed on the right road towards la paz. 

yesterday we checked out of our crappy little hostel, which i think had bed bugs.  i have huge welts on my right leg.  we came over to the adventure brew hostel by the bus station.  there's an actual brewery in the hostel, the worlds highest.  they also have a second building down the street that has a beer spa.  i thought it was a hot tub where they serve you beer.  no.  it's a hot tub filled with beer.  we didn't go check it out though.  the reason we switched hostels our last night here was to watch the SUPER BOWL!!!!  and the giants won!  in the last 2 minutes!  what an amazing game.  it was really neat being at this hostel.  everyone is really friendly, we met people from all over.  one guy was even from chicago.  oh, and before the game, la paz had their carnaval parade, so we stood on the 5th story terrace and assaulted people with water balloons and buckets of water.  it was fun to terrorize from up above and not be able to be attacked. 

tonight we're on our way to salta, argentina.  we have a 26 hour or so bus ride ahead of us.  yeah fun.  we'll let you know when we get there.

love you all

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

carnaval 2	carnaval 3	carnaval 4	armadillo rattle
carnaval 5	carnaval 6	death by foam	carnaval 7
carnaval 8	carnaval 9	carnaval 10	melanie with dancers
what a big hat	carnaval 11	carnaval 12	carnaval 2008
ismael with a pretty girl	carnaval 13	that's a big flute

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