Cuenca Independence Day weekend celebration continued today. There was a children’s puppet show at the base of the Escalinita steps next to CIDAP, and there were much more arts and crafts being displayed on closed city streets and plazas throughout the neighborhoods compared to prior years. We also attended a party for Día de los Disfuntos (“Day Of The Deceased”) party (center image above), where we each received a guagua de pan, a traditional Ecuadorian bread served at this time of year, which appears as a swaddled baby, and represents those infants who have died.

We then crossed the street to the Cemeterio Municipal, the largest cemetery in Cuenca.  Families come on both Nov 1 and 2 to honor their deceased, and to care for their graves.  As in much of Latin America, many graves are of a “condominium style” and are only rented for as long as the family continues to pay the rent for the space. A few wealthier families are buried in full ground graves, while the very wealthiest families have entire crypts.