Carnaval

Well, for most of the Catholic world, Carnaval ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lent season before Easter. Howerver, in Bolivia it is still going. They say that the worst is mostly over. The last four days have been nothing but water balloons, firecrackers, and k'oas. Oruro, another city in Bolivia, is supposed to have the biggest Carnaval celebration, but even though we had Monday and Tuesday off (Carnaval is a national holiday here), we decided to stay home. I didn't even leave our neighborhood the whole weekend, while Ann ventured into the market a couple times, coming back a little wet. But it turned out to be a great time and a chance to see how most Bolivians probably spend Carnaval-- in their homes. I'm afraid we have no pictures because we did not want any valuable property to be destoyed this week. Monday we had an epic water battle, first among us and the kids on our block. A few kids from our youth group came over to help too and then some of the kids parents got in on the action and soon everyone was soaked and running around with balloons, guns, buckets, and hoses. But that was just the beginning. Our friend Oliver from church was tqo blocks down the road amassing his own army so the two sides fighting at our house united to go to war with the kids from the other block. No one escaped unscathed. The other team put shoe polish on their hands so when we got too close they would smear you all over your face. They grabbed our kids and hauled them away, only for them to reappear moments later with rotten banana in their hair. The amazing thing is that everyone played along and no one was hurt or got angry. It was all just a part of the game.
Tuesday was the biggest day of the festival, when everyone cleans and decorates their property (house, cars, everything). All day the air was heavy with the smell of the k'oa people did in their homes and the sound of firecrackers filled our ears. The k'oa is a traditional sacrifice made to the Pachamama (kind of like mother earth) and it is said that the Tuesday of Carnaval the earth is more open than usual to our communication so everyone does a k'oa on this day. Once you have a pile of hot coals you place your k'oa on top. It is a piece of paper and on top they put spices, sugar figures, cigarettes, fake money, coca, and other things, which smolders away for quite some time. The aroma is very distinct. While it is burning everyone takes a drink of alcohol, first spilling some of it from your cup on each of the four corners of the k'oa in a counterclockwise direction as a sign of respect to Pachamama. Houses and cars get decorated along with all your plants and any source of water, all with the idea that these things will bring you good luck in the next year and you will have abundant water and fruit. Our landlord came and did one at our house. Since it is his property we went ahead and let him. Tuesday everything is closed and everyone is home with family cooking, eating, and getting really wet. Today they say all the market vendors do their k'oa since Wednesday is the big market day. Then Saturday comes the biggest party of all downtown with the big parade and of course more water. And the following Saturday is the last parade and party. Aparently the Church calendar is the last worry on anyone's mind here.
They say that the reason the Carnaval celebration has become so different from other places in the world because when it was introduced it just happened to fall around the same time as an ancient Andean harvest festival. The month of February is when they start to harvest the potato crop, the most important staple of the Andean diet. But I won't bore you with the details. Today is also Jenny's birthday, so we are having a shrimp boil for dinner. She's from the beach so we thought we would do something special for her. Hopefully we will all stay dry.