Wet, wet, wet!!

For three days in a row over the weekend I did not escape getting soaked.
Day 1. Friday
Today we were expecting to get wet. We were going to celebrate Carnival at school, and were duly greeted with mini fistfuls of paint powder to the face! I got it right in my mouth! We calmed the kids down, promised a major water fight during recreo and managed to hustle them all into the classroom to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one) on the laptop of one of the volunteers. We also handed out cones of popcorn and disgustingly sweet liquorish flavoured bonbons. While the film was going on we took it in turns to sneak outside to the taps and surreptitiously fill up water balloons. Recreo came and, after handing out the fruit, we ran to the bathroom where the bag of balloons had been hidden and began the carnage. No one escaped unscathed! Half an hour later we were soaking wet, covered in foam with pink, purple and blue faces from the paint powder. We went down to the playground to help dry everyone out before returning to the classroom for fruit salad and cake. It was a really fun day...little did we know that the fun had only just started!!
When we returned to the Casa (our HQ hostel) that afternoon more water awaited us. One of the cleaning maids ambushed us and a full on war started. The Casa is possible the best place ever for a water fight too because there are about four different levels from which you can throw water. Then we had to try and ambush the people who weren´t wet yet. Eventually it fizzled to a stop when we all got too cold to keep getting drenched. I went home to get showered and warmed up. You would not believe the amount of pink that flowed from my hair! (Two or three buckets of bright pink water got thrown over me!!)
Thankfully the barbecue that night passed without incident though!
Day 2. Saturday
Today 9 of us went white water rafting in the morning. Having been told to wear ´light clothing´and to ´expect to get wet´ we were a little surprised when we reached the river (about a 20 minute ride out of Arequipa) and were told to strip down to our swimsuits and to put on wetsuits. These were followed by comically large red waterproof style tops and bottoms, lifevests, wetshoes and helmets. We were all a little bit concerned about what we were in for!
We entered the water and realised that it was pretty cold, nevertheless as we started paddling we began to warm up and came to welcome the splashing that passing rival boats brought. I was at the front of the raft with one of the other volunteers, Yussef, and as we went over a rapids both leaning to the same side of the boat a particularly large bump knocked us both out into the water. After a second of confusion my head broke the surface and I grabbed onto the oar of the instructor and was hauled back into the raft. The rest of the trip passed without incident, thankfully, but we still all arrived back soaking wet.
Day 3. Sunday
Today was the last day of Carnival in Arequipa. This means that there is a free for all water fight on the streets of the city. No one is safe! Three of us decided to become part of the fun and went out on the streets armed with water balloons and buckets. We reached the Plaza de Armas and spotted a huge group of Peruvian adolescents, black and white paint all over them. We started to throw balloons at them until they put their arms up in defeat and beckoned us to join them. We all received some fetching black warpaint, and then moved on to prowl the streets.
It was like something from a film. We would reach the end of a street and look down it, only to see a bigger gang at the other end. After 30 seconds of sizing each other up and debating exactly how much water we had left in our buckets one or other of the groups would then pelt it down the street, the other gang in hot pursuit. Normally there would also be cowards on rooftops armed with water balloons and/or buckets of water who you also had to try and dodge. It was really really good fun. Eventually we grew tired though and went for lunch to dry out a little. On our way back home however, we were approached by a young man, I held up my hands screeching "¡no tenemos agua! ¡no tenemos agua!" ("we don´t have any water!") and he showed his hands were empty so we walked on thinking nothing of it. 2 minutes later and a stream of freezing cold water was poured down my back! That´s Carnival for you!!! And gringos are particularly susceptible!
So that was the third day in a row that I returned home freezing cold and soaking wet!
Thankfully, Carnival is now over (although there were some definate signs of water sight at the Casa today!) and that hopefully means that I won´t see another water balloon for a very long time!
X