Saturday, February 25, 2012

Carnaval

Carnaval in Cuenca is a great time; however, if you're not willing to be a participant, stay inside. The Cuencano tradition is to foam folks. In preparation, vendors are everywhere with tables filled with cans of "espuma de Carnaval". On Friday night, Garth and Orilla hosted a Carnaval get-together. We greeted Garth with the tradition.
However, he was prepared.....and retaliated.
On Saturday, we were in Giron in search of celebrations and encountered this procession from the church.
There was a huge turnout by the townspeople, including, this little guy.
One of the participants.
Mick considering a "flight to Egypt".


After Giron, we returned to Cuenca and continued foaming. The Cuencanos derive such pleasure from this. Everything is taken as fun and tradition; however, tourists can be a problem. We were all, including Nikolas, soaked with water and foam. The day was a real "hoot". For those of us who have lived here a while know that it is a harmless tradition and that it is all in fun. The tourists get extremely upset, scream, shout profanities, etc.


We were driving down Benigno Malo, armed with foam as I shot 2 non-Cuencanos. My bad, we were too close to the traffic light. We were sitting at the traffic light with my window down. A hand reached in the car and grabbed my can of foam, which I would not give up. The two guys were cursing us, calling us "@#$%^ing Americans". I managed to roll the window up, at which time, one of the fine tourists kicked the car door, putting a large dent in the door. At that point I was infuriated and got out of the car, big mistake. The older German then kicked me in the thigh. There were no police around. I was shocked. Mick got out of the car, not realizing what had happened. The "delightful German tourists" backed off, I threw my can of foam at them and they ran. Bummer!

Our fun day had been rained upon, not with rain, but with "sour krauts". If you can't accept the culture and traditions, don't come here; it's that simple.


Most things, including the malls, were closed for Carnaval; however, Costto was open. When you go there, you're prepared for shopping with the giant baskets. Here's Joannie with one.
Carnaval is over. Cuenca is back to normal. Life is good.
Until next time,
Mick and Kathy