¡Carnaval!

Carnaval is a Brazilian celebration, a week of masks and mayhem, right? Wrong. Or wrong in that it is only a Brazilian celebration – I think the rest is probably true. Being a very Catholic country, Ecuador also celebrates the holiday, albeit in a slightly-toned down manner. With Monday and Tuesday in early February off, a group of University friends and I left for Baños – a town south of Quito – for an extended weekend. I had visited once before, but was utterly unprepared for the events this time through. There were parades with dozens of dances performed by folks aged 4 to 104. There were solemn processions of the Virgin Mary through the town with people crowding to touch the Virgin’s dress for good luck.

And, most importantly of all, there was espuma. Espuma is basically colored shaving cream that when shaken shoots out from its bottle at dangerous velocities. Moreover, it has an automatic homing mechanism that aims for the eyes of gringos. Or it may be the locals with the homing mechanisms. Regardless, everywhere I walked I heard the warning cry of “¡Gringo!” or roughly translated, “Look, an easy American target that I can shoot with espuma and then laugh at with my friends!” followed seconds later by a stream of foam. I don’t mean to give a negative impression however. The truth is that it was all in good fun, and that five-year old girl who tapped me on the back and then shot me point blank in the eye – nothing but love. Also, I must also admit that I was far from an innocent civilian. I’m pretty sure I went through over a dozen bottles of this foamy joy during my vacation…and you should have seen how that five year-old who started it ended up.