Water Battle

I promised some photos from the water battle.  It is not called a water fight, but rather a battle -- this is serious!

We first experienced this annual event when we were here two years ago.  It happens on Fat Tuesday, starts about 2:30 in the afternoon, lasts about 1.5 hours and involves everyone from little kids to seniors -- whoever wishes to get in on the action.  The shops are boarded up o at least have all their glass taped over, netting is installed in front of buildings.  This year some additions were made to the preparations.  Sewers were covered with netting so that the plastic bags would not get into the waste system.  A net fence marked the battle zone -- another attempt to limit the plastic. 

Then the fun begins:  anyone who throws water balloons or plastic bags is fair game.  Spectators may get a bit wet if they are near the zone, but no one tries to hit them.  Trucks arrive with groups on the back, guys with helmets and sometimes body protection -- they throw at the people on the street and the ones below retaliate. It goes on -- sometimes one group runs out of water bags and the other group fills up their buckets with balloons so they can continue to throw. 

At the end, the cleanup starts -- one truck group helped scoop up the thousands of bags and fill the waste containers.  The cleaners work all night.  By the next day, the street is clean, the fences are gone and the reserved Azoreans are back to their normal routines.