Carnival

Carnival was to be repeated on Saturday. We bought our last minute costumes at the corner store (for me this involved a pink wig and mask) and headed back to Aguilas. This time, however, there was no Musona nor morbid, pegan costumes; instead, it was a blaze of bright colors and feathers. The true spirit of Carnival lies in the freedom of the costume. Once the costume is put on, the wearer is filled with a certain sense of liberty that accompanies the shedding of one’s normal appearence and adopting a new, more excentric one (whether it be a crossdressing nun, a disco queen or Waldo). Carnival is like Halloween for adultes, except instead of candy you get alcohol (and it’s not free). It was a theatirical night which ended with a scene of us, make-up smeared, feathers limp, and strands of synthetic pink hairs everywhere, waiting over an hour for a plasticy hamburger (literally, mine had a piece of plastic on it).
However, that didn’t stop us from coming back the next day to see the parade. Having danced in a parade myself, I know how much energy and pep is necessary, but this parade lasted 5 hours! I have no idea how the dancers did it, in heels no less and most of them being children. Apparently, the Rio de Janeiro style is really in now: Samba, sequins, feathers, and flashy colors. Some of the costumes were amazing and some of the adult dancers were very talented, but on the whold, there’s only so many (1) little kids you can see in too much make-up and skimpy outfits before it becomes just plain creepy.
Luckily, for the kids in the pueblo where I teach, “parade” still means dressing up in adorebly goofy costumes and being lead down the street through the camera flashes of the parent poperatzi. By the end of the week I was so carnivaled out that I now understand why the 40 days of lent suceed it.
Aside from carnival, a decectible earthquake and working on my c.v., life has been pretty tranquila here. I’m still making a fool of myself salsa dancing once a week and I tried to trim my own hair (it went about as well as the time I tried to cut Kehlen’s hair and then had to pay for it to be fized at a salon- only this time I lack the funds to cover teh damage). This past weekend a group of friends and I went to this deserted mining town. The houses were all in ruins and there was a beautiful, yet ghostly feeling; I kept waiting for a tumble week to roll by but none did. We also stopped at the space obervatory up in the mountains, and although it was day and we couldn’t enjoy the unubstructed view of the sky, the view of the surrounding mountains crinkling their way to the sea was breathtaking.
Oh, and I’ve been out sick for the past two days with my weird throat thing (those of you familiar with in know my treatment, it’s rather gross)