Carnivales!

February marked the celebration of carnivales in Perú; a time to throw water balloons at one another and enjoy the carefree spirit of children, all culminating into the great celebrate on the Saturday of February which marked an all day water and paint fight. Because it is famously celebrated in Cajamarca, a region in the sierra, Becca took a few vacation days and visited Cajamarca for the first time.

Febrero fue la celebración de los carnivales en Perú; un tiempo para celebrar la juventud y lanzar globos de agua. Becca visitaba Cajamarca por primera vez para conocer y participar en el día mas importante de carnivales.

In her first day, Becca spent time with other volunteers, visited churches, ate delicious food and soaked in the famous local hot springs Baños del Inca.

En los primeros días, ella pasó tiempo con los amigos, visitó las iglesias, comió la comida rica (como siempre) y sitios turísticos y bañó en los baños del inca.

Saturday morning, Becca woke up ill with food poisoning. In between rounds vomiting she cursed the street food she’d so enjoyed the night before. Luckily, by mid-morning she was feeling better and headed into the streets with a group of other volunteers and began battle. The streets were filled with people playing music, marching in groups and of course throwing buckets of water and paint at each other.

Sábado por la mañana, Becca se levantó enfermera de la mala comida. Ya se descansó y con buena suerte se sintió un poco mejor a la mediodía. Ella con los voluntarios, entraron las calles para empezar la guerra de pintura. Las callas se llenaban con personas lanzado agua y pintura a otras personas. 

With a squirt gun full of blue paint water, Becca found herself engaged in full-on war with other volunteers and people she’d never met. In minutes she was covered in a rainbow of paint colors.

Con una pistola llena de agua y pintura, Becca estaba en una guerra grande. En pocos minutos ella estuvo cobrada con diferentes colores de pintura.

The battles went on for hours as they joined groups of locals and marched around town often being attacks by groups of kids or people throwing water from their windows. Becca sat a few times because she wasn’t feeling well only to be surrounded and covered again in paint. She really couldn’t help but laugh.

La guerra continuaron para horas y los voluntarios se marcharan y bailaron en las calles. Becca se sentó un rato para descansarse pero se atacaron un grupo de jóvenes y cobraron a ella de nuevo con pintura. Ella rió mucho. 

After nearly five hours, the volunteers were tired so they stopped to have lunch. Afterward Becca returned to her hostel and finally relaxed and took a long, much needed shower.

Después de cinco horas, se cansaron los voluntarios y salieron la guerra para almorzar. Por fin Becca regresa al hostal para descansar un rato y, por supuesto, bañarse.