Stories from Euskadi: Tolosako Ihauteriak

Despite having been in Europe for Carnival twice before, I had not previously celebrated it. Although I had vacations during this time, I never actually thought to plan anything to celebrate Carnival. This year, upon finding out that I had no plans except choir rehearsal during our week-long vacation, one of the English teachers at the high school decided that I needed something to do and proceeded to start making day trips for me within the Basque Country. She told me that I had to experience Carnival in Tolosa. I really had no idea where Tolosa was, having only heard of it once before in Basque class when our teacher told us that going to Carnival in Tolosa "merezi du", that it's worth it. Now having been told twice that it was something I needed to experience, I began to consider it. When several other teachers, upon hearing our discussion of my lack of plans, told me that Carnival in Tolosa was "legendary", I knew I had to go.

At this point, there were several of us in the English department room discussing my new plan of action. Another of the English teachers told me that Sunday was the best day to go and she gladly looked up the bus schedule for me. The trip was only about two hours in each direction, giving me plenty of time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the day.

Now, I was not about to walk into a city of fully-costumed people without having a costume myself, so, after class that day I ran around the entire city in search of the necessary items to make the perfect costume, a transparent umbrella and bubble wrap. You may be thinking that I didn't know what I was going to do with these items, but, never fear, I had a plan. I was determined to be a jellyfish. When I told some of my students of my plan some seemed wowed, others confused, others laughed at me. They did not understand the awesomeness that would be my costume.

After spending the better part of four hours constructing my masterpiece, I was eager to show my costume to the world and couldn't wait for Sunday morning. Having gone out with my friends on Saturday night, I had a difficult time forcing myself out of bed on Sunday morning, resulting in my getting up an hour later than expected. At least I was awake enough to think to check the weather report for Tolosa, which resulted in a change to my costume. The forecast said to expect rain for much of the day. Armed with an umbrella, I wasn't too worried, but I decided that wearing an all-white ensemble was probably not the best idea.

Black was definitely the better choice, as the water that clung to the tentacles resulted in my getting completely soaked.

I'm not the biggest fan of long bus trips, but seeing how there was seemingly no other way to get there, I left my house bright and early to catch the bus, umbrella in hand. The bus wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be, and the trip wasn't as bad as I expected. For the first 10 minutes. What the teachers neglected to tell me was that the bus had to pass over many narrow, winding roads through the mountains. As soon as we began our ascent up the mountain, I knew it was going to be a long two hours. The two hours felt much longer as I tried to settle into a position that would help me keep the contents of my stomach on the inside. I closed my eyes and checked the time every time the bus stopped in hopes that we had arrived at my destination. When we got there I gladly jumped into the rain to begin my exploring. Not having any idea where I was going, I decided the best approach would be to follow the people dressed as clowns, zombies, Egyptians, and the like. Normally, I try to fly under the radar when I visit new cities, but as I was the only jellyfish for miles, it wasn't possible. I was definitely one of the most original costumes there, and received many compliments on my unique outfit. Several people even asked to take my picture. I wasn't as brave as they were about asking strangers if I could take their pictures, so all of mine were of the sneak-attack variety. I do have to admit, though, that being stealthy is not easy when dressed as a jellyfish in the pouring rain.