Martes De Grasa

Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. In whatever language…good times. Working in the office paid some major benefits for this festival. We got off work Monday and Tuesday, so the rest of the co-trainers and I left for the extra-long weekend to various parts of the country.

I left to go out to the jungle community of Tena to meet up with 10 friends. We took it easy the first night and then on Sunday morning we jumped on the back of a truck and took the half hour ride to the indigenous town of Misahuallí. Misahuallí is known for the craziness of its carnaval, and it did not disappoint. They had a park on the big river that flows through town cordoned off with food vendors, beer stands, music stages, and of course, people selling the carnaval necessity…foam spray.

Luckily we were on the river, because we were covered with foam, paint, and oil after being at the party for 10 minutes. About every hour I would jump in the river to cool off and get clean. The group of us instigated a war between a bunch of little kids who were playing near us. The water and foam flew, it was a good time.

We left around 4:00 before the real insanity began. The next day we heard on the radio that three people drowned that night. Unfortunately, Ecuadorians can’t have a real party without there being some fatalities.

On Sunday night a couple of us went to a different town to see what was going on there. On Monday morning we got up to go watch a professional soccer game, but on the way there people started throwing stuff on us. I was wearing nice clothes and didn’t want them ruined by the dye in the foam, so I asked people not to spray me. A 6’2” gringo in nice clothes was too big a target, so the Ecuadorians pelted me anyway. At this point I lost it. I started cursing at people in English and in order not to kill someone, I had to go back to the house. It probably was for the best because I’m sure that at the game it was worse. I think my frustration level has reached its maximum.

Instead of going to the game, we watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was good, and I can still say that I’ve seen all the Oscar Best Picture winners. Another piece of culture I saw was the Provincial Ballet of Pastaza and their new work “Puyu”. It was about what you’d expect from the Provincial Ballet of Pastaza, but worth seeing. The ballet told the story of the Shwar Indians and their relation to the Catholic missionaries, Spanish settlers, and oil companies. It was interesting, but I was scared the whole time they were dancing around. They were jumping with spears and bows, I thought somebody was going to get knocked out. (Again, Ecuadorians love them some danger).

I got back last night, and today we are finalizing plans for the new Omnibus’ arrival. They get in at 8:00 tonight…now the fun begins