I¨m back! and such

Hey all,

Well, it´s been awhile since the last, fairly depressing post, but it´s all good. The vacation was a complete disaster but it won´t stop me from seeing what I want to of this continent- it just means that I¨ll have to put off the northern portion until my trip home.
The last few weeks have been pretty stale. I planned this trip in the first place to cover the dead period of the rainy season, when everyone is either away or partying (which I´ve done enough of the last few months) but most certainly not working. Since I had to be back I´ve pretty much just sat around and watched movies on the laptop and planned for when stuff started happening again, which should be this week. The last party of the season is raging around me right now and today is the last day. Also, school starts again tomorrow. I´ve heard that most people aren´t back for the first week, so I´ll pretty much just be setting my schedule and trying to re-open dormant projects.
I did take part in the last party, carnivales, over the last week since I was in town anyway for my final week of Quechua classes. I´m still processing all the info I got this week, but I think I can get along in the language o.k. and with studying can even get fairly proficient at it.
As for carnivales, the holiday has been more or less going on all month as a lead-up to Lent. Mardi Gras is the peak of the holiday in Brazil and New Orleans, but we wrap up a little earlier here. It´s characterized by people chasing around with water balloons, squirt guns, and spray foam going after the opposite sex. Bands also roam in the early hours picking up the solteras, or single girls, from their houses and dancing into the morning. Another custom is that all single males have flutes and try to ¨rob¨ solteras with them, playing to them I guess to win them over. I missed out on that part. For the most part it all devolves into drinking and dancing like most parties here.
Oh, a final interesting touch is that they ¨plant¨ trees in the town square. These are laden with presents and balloons and danced around. Periodically someone takes a chop at it with an axe until finally it falls, provoking a frenzied rush to grab the stuff that was in the branches. The catch for the chopper is that if you are the successful one you have to pay for the tree in the next year´s festival, so everyone takes little chops and it usually takes all night.
Well, that´s all for now. I should have some work stuff to report next time as well as a different topic than town parties to expound upon...