Weather: Humid, On and off rain, 80 degrees

Today was pretty relaxed, I had class 9-12 and then I headed to lunch with Nicola, Steph, Hannah, Kayelyn, and Sara. It was a good group and after some lunch I headed back home to relax and do some research for an upcoming project I have to do for class.

Before dinner, I headed down to Playa Mann where Carnaval was in full force. It goes into tomorrow but I don't think tomorrow is as full force. Carnaval is filled with a lot of water balloons, foam, and powder paint you need to use water with to get it to paint form. There was music playing and people dancing all in front of campus. The entire road was closed down and there were food vendors lining the street. It's one big fiesta, the speaker Ernesto (the really negative one) told all of us not to go because everyone acts like animals and there is so much unnecessary trash produced from it. I went just because my friends were there and Carnaval is once a year and I wanted to experience it especially cause Angie told me about it back in Quito. I was expecting a lot of trash, but to my surprise there were two women walking around with a trash bag picking things up and offering a convenient option for someone that may be too lazy to walk to the trash. It definitely wasn't as bad as I was expecting which made me feel a bit better about being there.

I got paint all over me and even after an intense scrub down in the shower I still have green on my back. These white dudes on the beach didn't understand the water part so one of them just put a handful of powder on my back hence why I can't get it off my skin just yet. It was really fun the only thing that freaked me out was a local I didn't know (I did know he has been to jail before) came up behind me and put paint on my face. It is customary and it happened to everyone but us all being from America it was a tad gross for us. On the mainland, it's a huge party especially in Quito. Brazil is the country that is known for Carnaval but it's celebrated all throughout South America. It was a really fun experience and tomorrow I have a hiking and snorkel field trip with class.