On our first night at the Casa de ECELA, word spread around the house of a summer Carnival happening in a neighbouring district of Santiago. Chloë and I ended up going with other new arrivals at the house, who also shared a complete lack of Spanish comprehension. When we got off the metro, there were no obvious signs of a party in the street. It wasn't a problem though, since we just followed everyone else. In a few blocks we were at a park that only took up a single square block, but was overflowing with vendors, music, confetti, food, and people, people, people. Our first loop of the square was a feast for the senses, and even though we moved slowly with the crowd, it was nearly impossible to take everything in. After the first loop, we had beers in hand, Sophie and Freddie had made a few purchases from the craft vendors, and we were on a mission to find the coveted wine popsicles that seemed to sell out every time we arrived at the next cooler. Dinner was a "Completo" hot dog, topped with guacamole, tomato, and mayonnaise. We had resisted paying a few dollars for our own bag of confetti on our first loop, but Yves picked one up without me noticing and surprised me with our first confetti fight. It went everywhere. I had confetti on my hot dog, in my hair, and I even had to fish it out of my eyeballs (you're welcome for that mental image). Despite my best attempts to clean myself off, I think I'll find more confetti hiding in pockets and my purse for the next week.
We left the Carnival around ten to make sure we'd get back to the house in time for a good sleep for our 8AM placement test on Monday morning, but the carnival was still going strong. Marching bands pushed their way through the crowds as more people kept showing up with glow sticks and flashlights. It was hard to leave such a great party. How they managed to clean up the millions of coloured circles coating the square I will never know. I'm so happy we managed to hear about the carnival, I couldn't have asked for a better welcome to Santiago.
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