Galapagos journals Day 13

Dear diary,

Today is our last day on Isabela and also the beginning of Carnival! Carnival is huge in South America but even more unique on the Galapagos because it is all happening on... the beach! So what happens at Carnival in the Galapagos?

We went down to the beach and what did we see? A beach full of people, with music and dancing and a lot of people doing fun competitive sports! We watched people playing the tug-of-war (men groups and then women groups and then mixed groups) and then watched them while doing the human-pyramid challenge (teams of people building pyramids by standing on each other). That seemed like very good fun!

Apparently, it's custom during Carnival to throw water balloons at your family and friends. And not only water balloons but also sometimes eggs and flour. It used to be that  in Ecuador you would soak anyone and everyone on the street, however the locals told us that this has been banned the last few years because it was all getting out of control. 

When we were down at the beach, we were surprised to see people walking around with what seemed like ash on their faces like black blobs of face paint! There were also a lot of children holding water guns and water balloons squirting each other. And there were a few children holding eggs and threatening their friends with them. That would explain why in the last few days you couldn't get eggs anywhere on the island. I guess that's the reason why.

Tomorrow, we are going to San Cristobal, the third and last island we will visit on the Galapagos. It's supposed to be the best of all.

PS - the answer to Ismene's interesting fact question in yesterday's post? More people are killed by coconuts (falling on their heads, presumably) than sharks every year. Dan also said more people are killed by vending machines than sharks too. I'd choose a coconut or a shark over a vending machine, a more tropical death.