Oh, soooooooo Carnival - let me explain the coolest thing I learned today. During Carnival the ENTIRE country turns into a Water Balloon WAR zone. I mean it´s ALL out guerilla warfare . . . ppl hang out of trufis & taxis (trufis are little vans that function as public transport) and do drive by´s . . . favorite targets include Gringos & women. . . so a few of us PC ladies are already strategizing. One pcv just told me how she and two friends made a 3 - man sling shot . . . and their balloons went over a block and a half . . . so yes, we will be prepared . . . we will be armed . . .and NO THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS WILL NOT APPLY !!!! ( and YES they do sell super soakers here. . . !!! the possibilities are endless) I´m soooooooo psyched !!! Apparantly it ¨really gets bad¨when women on the street sell big bags of filled water balloons for 1 boliviano (it´s $1 to the 8 Bolivianos). You MUST come visit during Carnival !!! There´s also a bunch of dancing, drinking, & eating . . . basically I must find a way to spend every carnival here !!!
I´m quite sure there are many more details about this CLEARLY amazing cultural practice of sharing LOVE and AFFECTION with all you see (it´s completely normal for pcv´s [peace corps volunteers . . . i´m only a trainnee at the moment] to recruit 13 yr olds to be on their team because Gringos are so immensely outnumbered) . . . so I´m sure I´ll be writing more about the subject in the future.
Miss you all !!!,
La Sarita
PS. Many thanks go out to my favorite big brother Armstrong, and our mutual Brazilean friend Miguel . . . without whom I doubt I would be ready for this water war of Mamouth proportions !!!
