Day 17 - Diving out of Caleta and Carnival on fire

It looks like we are in the midst of the coldest winter all over the world. Including the Caribbean. 70F and very windy - not a good combo for enjoying the beach. The only reason I went diving this morning was because due to the heavy winds it was out of Caleta marina that I have never been to, and I'm such a sucker for trying new places. And although I created more trouble for myself than it was worth, I still don't regret it. The marina is so beautiful, but essentially it's a gas station for boats, so the smell is outrageous! But pictures don't stink, so enjoy the view!:)

We did a gorgeous dive at Punta Sur Sur, with lots of swim-throughs, but unfortunately only 3 people out of 7 were diving on nitrox vs air, so our dive was short - only 50 minutes - which actually works for me, because I don't get frozen, just comfortably cold. However, when we got back on the boat, even two parkas couldn't save me from the violent wind and splashes as our boat was rushing through the stormy waves to the surface interval. Again, the view is spectacular, but the feeling is not as much. What's up with this dissonance today? The sun hid behind the clouds, so there was no way for me to warm up, I got to shiver and had to take a long taxi ride back home skipping the second dive.

Today is the last day of Carnival, the night of the main parade. Of course, we join the celebrations. Thankfully, the weather is cooperating more or less. It's still a bit chilly and very windy, but at least it doesn't rain on this parade. Complete organized craziness is what it all is. Hundreds of people are camping out in the main avenue - Avenida Rafael Melgar - standing, sitting, dancing, eating. Street vendors are everywhere selling unknown little things that I want to try but don't dare for the fear of them turning out "asqueroso" (my favorite Spanish word meaning "disgusting"), and trust me, many things here can look so appetizing and taste awful. All in all, this parade is a friendly show-off between different neighborhoods. People set up party trucks with different themes, everybody is dressed up so differently: some wear ridiculous Halloween-like costumes, some have very elaborate Latin style outfits. Of course, the cutest thing is dressed-up little kids: space princesses, Caribbean pirates, Supermen, Batmen, you name it. Their job is to throw candy and beads into the crowd, and they seem to enjoy it tremendously.


And now the highlight of the parade - Senor Frogs restaurant burst into flames! Its palm tree leaf awning caught on fire from one of the floats with fireworks and in a second everything was a pretty scary mess - pieces of the awning started to fall down on the street, and because of the wind the fire spread very quickly. It looks like the staff of this restaurant took their fire drills very seriously, because in 10 minutes - before the real fire fighters showed up - the fire was tamed. I feel horrible admitting this, but because nobody got hurt, it was really entertaining to watch. The best part was that one of the side awnings burning down revealed a huge neon sign inside the cantina reading "Here anything can happen". Pretty ironic.

By the way, turns out that the cars don't just explode when they catch on fire - a revelation for me. Justin used to work in the Special Effects team for a while and his job was actually to set up explosions of things that won't do it naturally.

The parade was not stopped - it was suspended for about 40 minutes in that particular area, for the clean-up purposes, but then everything was resumed as if nothing happened. I love it here!

Working our way back home through the dense crowd of people, Justin and I thanked Ana for picking the best spot to watch the parade from. Apparently, it's in her blood - she used to be a news reporter...

The night ended with some really beautiful fireworks.