Carnaval 2: Toco La Pared

After our arrival in Baños, Mary Beth and I went to an Italian restaurant because we were drawn by the smell. After eating amazing pasta there, I kind of insisted that we eat there for the next two nights as well. Mmm... pasta. I had been craving pasta in Quito but I haven't discovered it here yet.

After dinner we met up with Bianca and Emma who had just arrived from Quito and we went out to the house to get settled in. We were staying with a family that Mary Beth knows from when she previously lived in Ecuador. This family was absolutely amazing. I can hardly imagine how they could have been better hosts to us. There are three kids, Elizabeth who is 24, Ricardo (AKA Pretty Ricky) who is 16 and Niely who is probably about 8 or 9. I really can't say enough good things about them.

After we dropped our stuff off and talked for a little bit we hopped in the back of Elizabeth's boyfriend's truck and headed off to start Carnaval. I haven't ridden in the back of a truck since I was in Guatemala and I kind of forgot how awesome it is. Luckily, we did it a lot this weekend so I got my fill. After Emma ate a fantastic Doner Kebab, we went to a little place to get canelazos. A canelazo is a hot drink made with Aguardiente, also known as firewater. Think... moonshine. As creatures of habit, we also ended up at this place every other night.

With a few canalezos in our systems we headed out to start dancing. We danced the night away until I eventually hit the wall at around 3 am. Trying to utilize my Spanish, I went outside and said, "Emma, yo toco la parel." Emma, understandably confused looked at me strangely and just said, "what?" I repeated myself, with more force. Again, she looked at me with a puzzled expression. Until finally I said, "Emma, I hit the wall." It seems that this expression does not translate.

We met a lot of new people our first night in Baños, one of whom was a super-hippie from North Carolina named Mateo. He had an interesting style of dancing which we imitated all weekend. As we were walking along the street after the bar closed and kicked us out Emma pointed out a puddle of water to Mateo. He then proceeded to lick from the puddle, much to our horror.

And that was how we started Carnaval.