Tues 16 Feb

Today was the day that the Bolivians Chiya everything. This is where they bless their house, car, and pretty much anything else that needs luck for the New Year. We decorated the car with streamers and confetti. We threw small pieces of sugar candy over the house to give it good luck and then splashed alcohol in every corner of the house. After, we all got in the big truck and headed for the other school that was run by one of the sisters to bless a new room, and a tractor. After sitting in the back of the truck driving on the bumpiest roads for about 45min, we finally got there. First the bishop did a ceremony to bless the new room. Then we took this beautiful hike up the side of a mountain to get to the farm where the new tractor was. After blessing that, we went back down and had a huge lunch. Later when we got back to Carmen Pampa, the children from the small town where having a water balloon fight and we decided to join in. After 5min we were soaked and Balloons were flying everywhere. Soon after the college students took over and we went from balloons to buckets of water. It was boys against girls and we grabbed people and threw huge buckets of water on them. Later when we were done with the girls, we switched to were the boys and girls went after people who were dry. Once everyone was soaked, we waited outside for the mini buses to arrive with the students who were coming back from La Paz. They had all their luggage and back packs but that didn’t stop us. We grabbed them, took off anything that was important, and no matter what excuse they had saying why they couldn’t get wet, we soaked them anyway!!! HAPPY CARNIVAL!! Later we had dinner and I then went to bed in the dorms.