Once Was Blind .....But Now I Can't See

If you have never taken part in a city wide water and paint balloon fight, I do recommend trying it once.  I would also recommend that you wear a helmet, safety goggles and a flak jacket.

Ken picked us up in his truck with 5 of his boys in the back along with 4 rubbermade garbage cans full of water balloons.  Most of ours were just plain water, except for one special barrel which was reserved for people dressed in "temporary clothes".  By temporary clothes, I am referring to full length cotton smocks of various colors that the hard core participants buy and wear just for Carnival.  The special barrel was of course filled with balloons filled with dye of various colors.  This dye is more like paint in actuality because it really doesn't wash off that easily at all.  Many consider it a badge of honor to return to work on Wednesday after Carnival dyed from head to toe in a multicolor rainbow.

There is really nothing we do in Canada that compares to a festival of like this.  Everybody (and I mean Everybody) knows that people are going to throw water balloons at them, so they just smile and wave when they get hit, or pull out their own stash from their hidden supply.

It all started out great with the 5 of Kens boys, Myself, Lukas and Logan in the back of a truck.   (All you over-protective parents, please close your eyes for this part)  We drove around a few blocks and flung a few balloons and dodged a few coming back at us.  All was well until we went to what Ken described as one of the poorer areas of town.  Apparently, the poor have more time to plan ambushes.  When we got half way down the street, balloons started coming from all angles.  They came from the left, right, front, back, and there were even people on the rooftops hurling balloons into the truck.  I was first struck on the back of the head, as was Logan and Lukas.  Then the paint balloons started coming in and I was hit just below my left arm.  That one was obviously thrown by somebody large because that one really hurt.  Apparently when you run out of balloons, some people choose to throw soft mud.  This was not mentioned in the rules at all.  I took one of these soft mud balls directly in the forehead, and a few seconds later, I took a water balloon to the left temple which shot my glasses out of the truck, never to be seen again.

Nobody was hurt other than a slight welt and some bruised pride, and it was all good fun and everyone was left smiling at the end.  Its really nice to see an event where everybody no matter how rich or poor takes part and just has fun.