4 Wheels 4 Girls

September 2nd was the last full day at camp. We “comi” (ate) dinner and then the counselors told us to go to the central of “actividades”. I ran over there and threw open the door. Carnivale tiempo! There were all kinds of actividades filling the room. I tried not to look at anything except the actividade I was facing. I waited in line until it was my turn. Paola, an awesome counselor, handed me a pole with a plastic string on the end like a loop. In front of me sat a bucket full of agua and on top of the agua sat a bunch of rosado, azul, y amarillo plastic ducks. I reached my pole out and hooked the loop around an amarillo duck’s cabesa. I slowly and carefully lifted the duck out of the agua and Paola congratulated me. I guess not many people can get the ducks out of the agua. Then she lifted the duck off the pole and flipped it over so she could see the bottom. When she saw it, she smiled. I looked and there was an estrella (star). Yay! That meant that I would get tres tickets instead of uno! I said “gracias” and went to the next actividade.

I stepped up to one of my favorite counselors, ( I love them all!) named Vero. There was a “pequeño” chica named Grace waiting for a second persona to come and do the dos-persona actividade, so I volunteered to race her. Vero told us to each take a take a papel plato and plastic huevo and use the plato to whip the aire around the huevo and make it move. We started, and I whipped the aire as hard as I could. I won the race! Grace got un ticket and I got dos. Whoo! I was doing bien so far.

Shaving a balloon

The next actividade was “Shave the Globo (balloon) “! Another one of my favorite counselors, Edgar, was standing behind a mesa (table) wearing a clear, plastic, raincoat that was covering everything on him except for his face. It even had a hood. He was wearing safety goggles, too, and he looked hilarious! He told me what I had to do, so when he finished explaining, he smeared shaving cream all over a globo and held it out in front of me. I picked up the razor laying on the mesa and began to shave. My razor soon became covered in shaving cream and I noticed a bucket of agua on the mesa. I rinsed my razor off and continued shaving. Then another awesome counselor, Nelson, came over to watch me shave my globo. I glanced at him– my big mistake– and I got drenched in shaving cream! Nelson calmly walked away right on tiempo. He didn’t get splattered one bit. Why did my globo have to pop right then? I was almost done shaving the whole thing! Oh, well, at least I got dos tickets.

What happens when you shave a balloon

The next actividade was agua pingpong. I grabbed Ana and dragged her over to the agua pingpong. We each sat down on opposite sides of the mesa and listened as Nelson told us what to do. There was a metal tray full of agua with a pingpong ball set in the middle. We would have to blow it and when it touched the opposite side of the pan, that would be a goal. So Ana and I started blowing. I’m not going to say who won… but we both got covered with aqua!

Aqua ping-pong

I collected my tickets from Nelson and went to the next actividade. It was led by a counselor named Mariano. You would have dos beanbags, and you try to toss them into a hole. I got both of them in on the first toss, so I got more than one ticket. I said gracias and moved on to the next actividade.

This actividade was a little more challenging. It was lead by a hilarious counselor named Alejandro. You had to stand “arriba” (up) on a chair with a glass jar on the ground below you. Alejandro handed me a wood clothes-pin and he told me to hold my “braso” (arm) straight out in front of me with the clothes-pin in my mano. Then I would have to drop it and try to get it in the glass jar. I dropped it and it hit the edge and bounced off. Alejandro gave me another one and told me to try “otra vas” (again). So I dropped another and it hit the edge and bounced off again. Arggh! I got another and dropped it. It went in! Even though I made it in, Alejandro still gave me another pin. It hit the edge again! Oh, my gosh! I got ANOTHER and it hit the edge also! Wow! Finally, Alejandro didn’t give me another. I hopped off the chair and got my tickets. That was a fun actividade!

The next station was bowling. Another counselor, Bruno, was crouched on the ground, picking up the bowling pins that had just been knocked over. I said hola and stood there waiting. He apologized and stood up. He asked if I knew what to do and I answered, “¡Si!” So I took the mini bowling ball and tossed it at the mini pins. I knocked down half. Bruno passed it back to me and I tossed it at the remaining pins, hitting them all. I didn’t think I did a very bien job, but Bruno acted like that was the best he had ever seen. I smiled, taking my tickets. On to the next actividade!

The next thing was face-painting. I skipped it and moved on. Face paint makes me itchy.

The next thing was lead by another one of my favorite counselors, Emilia. You had to take a pole with a long string and a clothes-pin tied to the end. You would try to aim the pole and then swing it to try to get the pole through a hole in a door-like thing. I did it and got it in on the first try. I was really cranking that night! When my pole was in the hole, Emilia crouched down behind the wall and told me to hold the pole still. I waited and then she told me to lift my pole out. I tugged on it and when I pulled it out, there was a drawing of a pez (fish) on a piece of papel and tres tickets clipped in the clothes-pin. Nice! Solo un poco mas actividades!

The next one was musical chairs. I told Yamile, the counselor running that station, that I would be right back and that I was going to find a few “persones” for musical chairs. I came back with Ellie, Grace, and our friend Rosa. Then a counselor named Ale said she wanted to join us, so we put an extra chair next to the others. Since there were cinco persones, there were solo quatro chairs. Yamile asked if we were ready, and then we began. Yamile turned on the musica and we started circling around the chairs. Suddenly, the musica shut off and Ellie, Rosa, Grace, and I plopped down as quick as we could. Poor Ale was left without a chair. She smiled, congratulated us in Espanol, and went to help out with other actividades. Yamile pulled a chair out of the “circulo” and flipped on the musica. We continued. The musica shut off suddenly again, and I sat down at the chair under my butt. Whew! I got a chair! But Grace didn’t. She got un ticket and went to another actividade. The musica turned on again and we walked around the dos chairs that were left. My heart was starting to beat pretty fast, now that it was only me, Ellie, and Rosa. We kept walking until the musica shut off abruptly. I sat down without a mili-second passing. Oh, my gosh! I got a chair, without even someone else trying to sit on the edge! Ellie was sitting on Rosa’s lap, laughing. She got handed un ticket and she smiled at me for still being in. What a bien sport! We pulled out another chair so there was only uno left. Oh, no. The pressure was on. Rosa and I looked at each other with rojo faces with both determination and fright in our ojos. Before I knew it, the musica was playing and it was time to win! We circled the chairs and listened with all our might for the music stopping. Suddenly, everything seemed to get louder except the musica. I guess that’s what happens when you’re about to find out who wins. Immediately, the musica stopped and– I got the chair! Yes! I won! I got tres tickets and Rosa got uno. I told her she did a bien job and she smiled. That actividade was fun!

There was uno actividade left– Ring Toss. It was lead by Ana, a cool counselor. I already knew what to do, so I began. I tossed– and made it! I tossed again– and made it again! I tossed AGAIN– and made it! I tossed again and clipped the edge. I tossed again and clipped the edge again. I tossed uno mas tiempo and I made it on! Whoa! I got tres tickets and thanked Ana. That must have been lucky because I’m usually not that bien!

A great aqua ping-pong match-up

I still felt like doing actividades after I finished them all, so went and did all the ones with short lines again. Man, that carnivale was so fun! I wished it lasted all noche (night)!

When all the actividades closed, I went over to the mesa where you get to buy things for your tickets! I pulled my tickets out of my pocket and counted. 29! I don’t think anyone got that many! I waited in line, excited. I was going to get to buy a lot! Finally, it was my turn in line. I looked at the things I could get and decided on a hairbrush and mirror set for fifteen tickets, dos pelo (hair) clips with fake, colored pelo attached for cinco tickets each, and a lip gloss for cinco tickets. Si, I knew that it was cinco tickets and I only had quatro left, but Ale, who was running the prize table, let me have it because I had been waiting in a line for an actividade and then it closed, right as it was my turn, so I would have at least uno mas ticket. I thanked Ale and headed off.

That was one of the best noches ever! I went off to the next thing– campfire and s’mores!