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.
