Carnival in Ecuador

Carnival in Ecuador strangely reminded me of beach week at Duke. Back in collage, after the spring exams and before graduation, we would spend four or five days in Myrtle Beach, SC (actually North Myrtle Beach, but that doesn't matter too much). Those days were filled with dancing (and drinking) all night, sleeping all morning, and spending the afternoons at the beach getting sunburnt.

This past weekend was like that, sort of. Carlos and I spent from Saturday until Tuesday in the country with his parents at their weekend house. Almost all his siblings and their families were there as well. So it was basically one big party. We spent our days eating and drinking (including some shots of tequila with my future mother-in-law), playing cards, riding bikes, playing volleyball, singing karaoke, dancing, and of course, the main event of carnival, which is throwing water on one another.

Fortunately, there was sun everyday so I was never really cold. Unfortunately, the water kind of washed off my sunscreen, so my back and legs are totally burnt. Almost every afternoon the water pistols came out, as well as the water balloons, pitchers, and even the hose. The only people that were safe were Carlos's parents. No one wanted to get Mami wet.

Yesterday was the most brutal, when a few of my future brother-in-laws, thought that flour, banana, coffee grounds, vanilla extract, and eggs were all legitimate substances to smash into my hair and face. Carlos has already thanked me for taking his place, he was able to spend yesterday afternoon relatively dry and clean, while I ended up smelling like cake.

I did get a bit of revenge, for an esential ingredient of Ecuadorian cooking is achiote, a red spice that can be bought dissilved in oil. I left a nice handprint in achiote on the windsheild of one of my future brother-in-law's brand new, just cleaned car. It took him about half an hour to clean it off. But it took me about four hours this morning to do laundry from the weekend, including laundering some clothes twice, just to remove the vanilla.

Next year in Brazil?