Carnaval 2019

This past weekend was Carnaval, one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Ecuador. In the bigger cities there is much more craziness than in the coastal villages (thank goodness) and usually the week long festivities are plagued with much rain, but this year the weather was very well behaved.

Tourists start rolling in Thursday afternoon and have several beach days before the night time dancing, Sunday night San Jacinto had an Orchestra and tho I was starting to feel a cold coming on I went down for awhile. At most I think there were 1000 people and shenanigans were at a minimum...unlike in neighboring San Clemente!

No one was safe from being sprayed by foam. (One reason people dont usually complain about rain, is it washes all this foam off). This photo was taken in front of the disco,  and you can see wall to wall people behind them. (No gusta)

And in Crucita, across the river...

And in Manta...

Just not my cup of tea. I enjoyed my little fiesta, me and 1000 of my closest neighbors. I probably was the only expat there...but Monday night I stayed home, my cold was hanging on, and I didnt need to be out again. Last night was the last hurrah, and the party went til about 4am, it wasnt very close to the house so did not keep me awake, but is very quiet in the barrio this morning. 

Some folks will pack up and go home, others will stay thru this weekend and enjoy more beach days. I have been thinking about these folks, families of 5 or more taking a beach vacation...how many in the US can afford to do that? Sad...the simple life, seems to me to be much better...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!