So yesterday we headed out to the most famous Carvanal of all-- Carnaval Vegano-- which takes place in La Vega, a town that is about 30 minutes away and is really famous just because of Carnaval. I have to say that going into it, I was extremely frightened. Any time I told a Dominican that we were going, their response was without fail, "Be careful!!".
So, we journey to Carnaval and stand on the sidelines for a little bit watching. As we start to wander a little into the street, we suddenly hear screams and everyone fleeing like crazy... And no, it wasn't a bomb, it was the masked people who were coming by to hit everyone in sight. Luckily I made it out okay that time.
We wandered further down the street, and watched as the different groups went by, all dressed up differently. The costumes are quite elaborate and some of them are really beautiful.
As time passed, we started to get somewhat more daring to jump out in the streets to take pictures. And while I definitely thought I had my backside covered well, I went to take my second picture and then proceeded to hear a nice WHACK on my butt. Ouch.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience. The piropos weren't as strong in La Vega (which could be due to the fact that La Vega probably sees many more foreigners than Santiago), but I definitely liked some of the masks/costumes better that I saw in Santiago.
Once the fear subsided I actually enjoyed the experience and wasn't really ready to leave-- and I'm sad that was the last Carnaval!
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