Carnaval

Most of Carnaval is filled with frequent religoius...ish celebrations, water fights, flour fights, and heavy drinking during all three.

Here are some photos from the celebrations in our town, and we´ll try to add more as we take them.

[Carnaval Pictures]

Also, just to describe a little of what´s going on in some of these photos. The crosses for a couple of weeks are carried from town to town for various celebrations and eventually are walked back up to their respective homes. The people climbing trees are preparing the corta montes. This is where you chop down a tree, dig a hole in the street, replant the tree, decorate it, drink and dance around it, throw water and flour at each other around it, chop it down, and when it falls everyone runs in and tries to grab the decorations they want - which are, from what we´ve seen, limited to your imagination; there were blankets, baskets, and everything inbetween adorning the trees. Kind of a cross between a maypole, a piñata, and Christmas... not sure where the water and flour fights fit in though.