CaRnIvALe TeSsEreTe 3-04-06

Carnivale Tesserete March 4,2006….

My god….I just got back form the carnivale and I am speechless, but I will try. I could not take my camera b/c it was raining, so here goes a thousand words…

This small mountain town in the alps of Switzerland closes down for a week now, it is one way streets just wide enough for a small car, the city puts up fences to protect the houses and front yards of the townspeople, people from 12-70 are ALL walking around in costume, I was the only person I saw not in costume, I think they thought I was in costume because I was the only one not in a princess outfit, a grown man wearing a cow costume(with utters), soccer players, genies, there was a flock of crows, men dressed as women, women dressed as police officers, a herd of cattle, more wigs than I have ever seen, doctors, nurses, Mario, Luigi, space people, school girls, elves, furry bears, I don’t even know what else…

The town is a loop, and there are tents all along the way selling beer, mixed drinks, and sausages. There is a tent every 20 feet(big tents like at the fair and small tents like the ones that sell funnel cakes), each with a dance floor, a bar, and a different kind of music. The town is blocked off for about 6 blocks by 6 blocks, and you have to pay 10 bucks to get into the town, and then you can go to any of the party tents you want. The streets are lined with an inch of confetti from the parades during the day. It is like the NC Fair, but smaller, for adults, in the Alps, and every stand only sells beer, mixed drinks, or sausages.

The music ranged from James Brown, to Shanaia Twain techno remixes, to “Country Road, Take me home” remixes, to hip hop, to 80’s rock.

I was at the carnivale in El Salvador 6 months ago, and it was crazy. There were ten times more people in El Salvador than there are here, but this Carnivale was much more impressive, because EVERY PERSON dressed up awesome. There were no bullshit costumes… I wish I could have brought my camera, I wish I could have brought my camera, I wish I could have brought my camera…

It gets better….The carnivale was 10 kilometers from where I am, and I was able to catch a ride there with one of my friends, but he was not going to the carnivale and dropped me off, so from the start I had no ride home, I did not know where I was, it was raining and I do not speak Italian so well. My friend wrote me a help card saying “I lost my friends, can you take me back to Lugano please?”(I did not need it, but it is funny to have.) When I got tired, I started walking back to the highway holding my thumb out. It was COLD! Below freezing. But after about 30 min a very nice young couple stopped and picked me up, and took me back to downtown Lugano…I hitch hiked!!! Awesome!!...but when I got back to the school the front door was locked and I do not have a key…so I scaled the side of the building and snuck in through an open window…

(Exscuse me, I have lost my friends, can you take me to Lugano? Near the Hospital Italia?)