What a Festival Can Teach a Language Student (Part II)

There Are Lots of Types of Potato After All

I remember reading that there are hundreds of varieties of potato in the Andes. I never believed it and I never went out of my way to check it out either. Then I went to a potato fair and was amazed to see so many different tatties staring back at me. I then went to the sweetcorn fair and, yes, I was surrounded by sweetcorn of many types and colours. There are fairs for just about every type of vegetable and if you can combine a couple with your trip then it makes a good complement to Spanish classes. I should point out that very few people seem to go in order to see the vegetables, as handsome as they are. The food, the drink and the dancing are more important it seems. Which is fair enough.

Balloons filled with Cold Water Hurt at Altitude

To be fair, I could have probably have worked this one out before I suffered the experience. Carnival is a strange time here and it is celebrated in different ways depending upon where you are. Strangely, the coldest places at the highest altitudes are where they are most likely to throw water filled balloons at people, gringos being particularly popular targets. I got drenched at over 3000 metres several times. I then went down a few thousand metres and got chased by a guy covered in mud brandishing a dirty piece of cloth. When I found somewhere the people just dance out in the rain I was quite happy to stay there and enjoy the festival.