CID 2 – Military Parade

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - parade of bomberos (firemen)

Cuenca Independence Day #2

The Cuenca Day Independence celebrations continued this morning with a military parade.  Apparently, the military parade only occurs every two years.  Prior to this year, it was very difficult to discover what special events were going on, and catching them was mostly through serendipity, unless you read the newspapers or listened to radio in Spanish.  This year, there were  50,000 copies of a 150 page booklet available at special locations, plus online, which made it much easier to plan to catch events such as this.

As with most parades in Cuenca, this one started late. What was more unusual was the barricades along the sidewalk, with the military police enforcing the audience to stay behind them.  While most parades have the participants and audience freely co-mingling, the MPs made sure there was clear separation this time.

The parade opened with various “first responder” units — primarily bomberos (fire fighters), including an impressive display of forest fighting vehicles (lower right).  Then, the parade seemed to just end…  Nothing else as far down the road as I could see.  After about 10 minutes of nothing, I was about to leave, when I saw a single convertible with two women sitting on the back seat, waving to the crowd.  Before they were a block from me, the crowd broke ranks, rushed past the PMs, and surrounded the car to get their selfies  taken with Miss Ecuador.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - light military parade

Another half-hour went by with nothing happening in the parade, but when I asked an PM (upper right), he insisted that more was coming. Sure enough, eventually the PM got control of the crowd again, moving them back to the sidewalks.  The light military then arrived.  These involved the Ecuadorian Special Forces, in camouflage fatigues, some with masks, some with rappelling gear (upper left).  Others were riding bicycles or motorcycles, for urban maneuverability.

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - heavy military parade

The heavy artillery unit ended the parade, complete with bazookas (upper left), artillery (upper right), anti-missile rocket launchers (lower left), and anti-aircraft guns (middle bottom).  The faces of these soldiers looked ready for a major war movie (middle).

Cuenca Independence Day, Ecuador 2016 - parade audience

Most of the audience stayed on the sidelines patiently to watch the parade…with vendors hawking plastic seats, umbrellas, bubble makers, baseball caps, food and drinks, with the military police trying to keep a path clear for the parade vehicles.

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