Water Balloon Madness

Bolivia hosts one of the biggest carnivals in all of South America, many say the 2nd biggest following the carnival in Rio de Janiero. Its held in Oruro (which is pretty much ONLY known for its carnival....there is nothing in Oruro besides the carnival...sorry citizens of Oruro), a city 4 hours away from Cochabamba.

This year, the carnival begins February 5th, and continues for almost a week. I´ll definately be there for it, wouldn´t miss it for the world.

But for now, I´m terrified!! Of what?? - of WATER BALLOONS.

During the carnival, the whole city of Oruro becomes battle ground for a water balloon WAR. No one is safe.... everyone is an enemy.... you constantly have to watch your back....!! Its a part of the carnival, and "technically" you aren´t supposed to hit people you don´t know, but that rule is virtually non-existant. Young femals are especially targeted by young boys, and of course, foreigners are also up there on the list of popular targets. And if you combine then together - a young female foreigner - well, you get the best of both targets! can´t beat that combination right!! ...oh SHIT i fit in that category!!!

But i will not sit back and just take it... i WILL FIGHT BACK with my FOLLOW FOREINGERS!! Hear you me!!!

But ya know, the war has already begun, and unfortunatley i´m ill-prepared. The water balloon war, apparently, begins whenever and where ever (not just in Oruro) young boys deem it ready to begin. This past week, i´ve seen about 5 young girls get hit by passing cars (full with young males), and yesterday I was targeted but they missed and the water balloon hit the wall about 1 meter in front of me, and today, they also threw one at me, and it skimmed my calf but it only broke when it hit the ground (apparently bolivian boys need to learn how to throw)

So so far, i´ve been lucky, but what do you do when you´ve been hit by one and you are drenched, and are not carrying around a change of clothes, but you have to go to work?? Well, let the sun dry it i guess....I found out the hard way, or should i say a gross way how fast the sun dries away liquids. But STILL, obviously one would prefer to avoid going through that uncomfortable experience right.

So I´m watching my back....nervous of every car that passes.... taking smaller roads where less cars pass.... scanning for boys walking around with bags of balloons.

Will I make it through, DRY until the carnaval???!?!? (I don´t expect to be that lucky during the carnaval) We shall see....

I should finish my post about my weekend trip 2 weeks ago...will get working on that one.... keep checking for more updates....