¡Carnaval in Baños!

For those of you whose limited Spanish vocabulary includes the word "baños," don't be mislead. I did not, in fact, spend four days in a bathroom, but rather in a lovely city southwest of Quito. Think "Bath,' like England.

This weekend was too fantastic to condense into a well-written blogpost, so I'm going to let some photos speak a few thousand words for me.

Here's the view of Baños. From a small field with this lovely vista, we sang songs and talked for a bit. An energetic nun led us in a few activities.

With one of my dearest friends and a new friend.

I'm becoming a percussion expert thanks to my new friends.

We went to Chimborazo! 5,000 METERS!

We went to an amazing waterfall and got to go behind it--getting refreshingly drenched with the powerful cascade.

This is what Carnaval looks like! Water and flour and silly string and more. All's fair in this war.

We sang and played coastal songs. And, last but not least...I danced the mapalé. This is a crazy coastal dance originally brought to Colombia by slaves from Guinea. I was jokingly dancing around to a drumbeat when my friends observed my apparently legit moves and invited me to take part in their surprise dance number after one of the evening meetings. Definitely an unforgettable experience for all of us! So unforgettable I'm not sure I'm going to live it down.

I'm going to be really sad to leave these friends when I return to the States. But, all things are beautiful in their time.

 

On the last day in Baños, there was an entire meeting of mockery, paying tribute to the experiences of each of the four days--people imitated the songs, the presentations and...our dance.