Santa Cruz

We headed next to Santa Cruz, on Sunday. We arrived in full Carnaval festivities. The 3 most important days of Carnaval are Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The difference with Carnaval in Santa Cruz is that they don't only have a big water fight... they also have a big paint fight. When we arrived on Sunday, most of the streets of the city center were closed off to traffic. The bus dropped us off at the beggining of a street and told us we had to walk all the way up the street to get to the city center and find a hostal. He forgot to mention it was one of the most busy "party· street during carnaval. We looked like right fools with our clean clothes and our big bagpacks, in the middle of all these drunk, painted bolivians. But, they stayed calm and didn't attack us with as much paint as I thought they would. So our bagpacks didn't suffer too much. Since everything in town was closed until Wednesday, we decided to make the most of it and participate fully in the festivities. So on Tuesday morning we bough balloons, paint and water guns. We filled the balloons with water and filled the guns with paint. We choose the clothes we were ready to give up on, and around 2pm, when the party starts, we hit the streets. All I can say is, it's great fun. Lots of music everywhere, food and drink stands, people dancing in the streets, throwing water balloons, having paint fights. I really recommend going to Santa Cruz for Carnaval... a piece of advice though: if you get hit, don't scream, close your mought tight! and also, wear sunglasses. I got splashed in the face by a huge water gun filled with purple paint. My teeth were purple and even the white of my eyes became purple! SCARY! I can't show you the photos yet unfortunately, cos we can't find a memory stick reader anywhere but as soon as we find one, we'll post the photos. We dont have any photos on the street of the atmosphere cos we feared too much for our camera (people wrap their phones in plastic bags and call through the plastic bag). Now we're in Samaipata, a small town about 120km from Santa Cruz. Very calm and quiet... perfect for a rest now that we've managed to get all the paint off our skin.

Comments

[Maria]

jolin q fiesta de pintura más guay!!jejeje! me encanta!! me alegro de q os lo paséis genial! muchos besos desde madrid...