Carnaval in Pego

Last weekend the majority of the Calvin group went to Pego, a nearby town, for Carnaval. Carnaval is a festival that occurs in different places around Spain before Lent. The celebration in the Canary Islands is one of the most famous in Spain, but in our region, Pego has one of the biggest fiestas. About 20 Calvin students met at midnight on Saturday and Ricardo, our faithful busdriver, took us all to Pego. Costumes are a must for Carnaval, and there were lots of different characters on our bus including a bumblebee, Charlie Chaplin, a dalmatian, and hippies. I don't love costumes, so I went as a princess--not the most creative, but it worked for me.  According to Professor Bierling, Pego used to have a more "traditional" celebration in the main streets of the town with bands and parades. However, the crowds get bigger every year, and now the celebration is outside the center of the city. Like a fair, there was a long stretch with booths where you can buy food and alcohol, as well as different DJs and bands. The atmosphere was a little "loco" (crazy); there were thousands of drunk people ready to dance and party all night long. Most of the people are younger, and I actually ran into some students from the class I observe at the school, Alfa y Omega. They were all excited to remind me that they had seen me when I went to their class yesterday. We got back to Denia at 5 am and headed back to our houses for some much needed sleep.