So far Carnaval is wonderful.

The first night, Thursday, was cold and windy. I know - all of you reading this from the frozen North - it wasn't cold by your standards but it was cold for here. I think that really put a crimp on the celebration.

We were out in the early evening because the King of Joy was going to be crowned at 7:00 al punto which means on the dot. People were milling about but it was not crowded at all. At 7 a band came on the main stage playing really loud rap music and we decided not to hang around since we were cold and getting hungry.

The Plazuela was going to have a food fair but when we walked through it was pretty quiet, too. So we ended up hitting the couch and watching a movie. No noise from the bands reached us since our house is shielded by Ice Box Hill. So that was Thursday.

Last night we got smart and didn't even head down to the malecon until 9. There were five different bands playing and the atmosphere was festive and getting more crowded by the minute. We walked the length of Olas Altas checking it all out.

There were of course lots of beer vendors and people selling light sabers and lighted earrings and carnaval masks. Stands with homemade potato chips, Clamato, hot dogs, silver jewelery, and also people wheeling wheelbarrows full of candies.

The women were out in their tightest jeans and highest heels. Men in white cowboy boots. I haven't seen so many women with their pants tucked into their boots in a long time! Paul and I sat at a table in between two bands where the volume wasn't quite as earsplitting and ordered Pacifico beer and watched the people walk by.

After a while we were joined by a friend and we enjoyed talking (or shouting) with each other. People in the building above the restaurant had a spotlight and spotlighted the pretty women as they walked by. Then some aerial acrobats came down diagonal wires from the building doing a kind of Cirque de Soleil type act in costumes decorated with the Pacifico logo. By now the pulse of the evening was moving faster and the magnetism of the bands pulled us out of our chairs.

We danced and danced, laughing all the while. It was so fun! They never paused from one song to the next so after a while we were practically dripping wet. By this time the crowd was so thick we had to kind of conga-line from one band to the next. The mood was happy and everyone was having a blast.

We gave up at about 1 am and the party was still going strong. I don't think my hearing has returned to normal yet.

Tonight is the Naval Combat reenactment - two boats out in the water off Olas Altas shooting fireworks to commemorates a French ship in the 1850's that came into the port and tried to invade. I can't wait!