Two weeks ago (wow it is amazing how fast time flies) was
Carnival. The festival began on February 27th and culminated on the
Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It was fun to go into town and enjoy the
festivities. There were water cannons, parades, and diablos (devils) roaming
the streets. The diablos are people who dress up in ornate red, black, and white costumes with large masks and dance in the street. I found them slightly
frightening because they have whips with which they make loud cracking sounds.
Diablos in the street in town.
This past weekend was our weekend off after having midterms
last Thursday and Friday. This basically meant that we didn’t have scheduled
activities on Saturday so we could spend a night away from the center. A group
of us decided to stay on the neighboring island of Bastimentos for the weekend.
On Saturday, two of my friends and I hiked through the forest to the other side
of the island to go to Wizard Beach and Red Frog Beach. On our way we summited
the highest point on the island (a whopping 330 feet above sea level). The hike,
while longer than expected, was very enjoyable. One of the highlights was our encounter
with a most pleasantly smelling tree. We saw fruits on it, picked one, opened
it, decided it looked like a guava, and ate it. It was delicious and
fortunately we all survived our impulsive consumption of wild fruit. At our final
destination, Red Frog Beach, there was a fundraiser for the local indigenous
community of Bahia Honda so that they can send their children to
school. They were selling fresh coconuts, empanadas, and johnny cakes (all of
which were scrumptious). I was glad that we were able to go to the event
because we had visited the community earlier in the semester and so it was nice
to be able to support them in this way.
Maria and Tara trying the “guava” fruit.
Struggling with mud on the hike.
We made it to the beach!
Bonus Photo: My friend Herman who enjoyed being photographed after he
joined me in the kitchen.
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