Guaranda Volunteers 2009-2010. Viva el Carnaval! Viva Guaranda!
Dancing in the streets of Guaranda for hours...
I am a bit late on sharing with you the most important event of Guaranda, Carnaval. The experience was maybe one of the most unique I have had here and it was not just for a day, or a few days, or a week, but months. The talk about Carnval begins right after the winter holidays and it is non-stop excitement from there. The entire city was repainted in bright blues, reds, greens and yellows…people are in happier spirits and everytime you see someone (even if it is for the 20th time that week) they ask if you are going to be here for Carnval in pure joy. The children start as well….as much as a month before Carnaval started, children and teenagers began throwing water. For a month, I had to be strategic in the way I walked to work in order to decrase my likelihood of getting hit with 3 water balloons or getting a bucket of water dumped on my head from a balcony. It was fairly unavoidable but developing tactics to decrease the chances was a game in itself.
My co-workers and I participated in one of the big days of Carnval here in Guaranda dressed up in the most obsurd (and for some reason the ugliest) custumes of Carnaval….there were thousands of people watching and we danced through the streets to our rehearsed steps, over and over again. (pictures above)
My favorite part of Carnval though was particpating in a comparsa (a choregraphed dance in a parade) with my students. We rehearsed a few times in my classroom…but something about it felt natural, genuine and in turn, really fun. The music was fun and our dance moves as well. We didn´t have fancy custumes or a fancy dance. We didn´t have a fancy discomobile and just a little sign that said, ¨WorldTeach Carnaval 2010¨ but nothing made me happier than to be dancing with my students and sharing in this with them…after we danced through the streets we climbed into a police truck stuffed with at least 30 people and headed screaming to the University. Then we danced more in the streets all the way to the University where there was music and food. All day, we danced, drank, and ate in the sun….in these moments with my students I felt that I truly understood what the Carnaval spirit and joy was all about.
Dance practice in my classroom!
My students and I in front of our discomobile!
Dancing in the streets of San Miguel with my students!
