When we first arrived in Cuenca in February 2012, we had high expectations for Carnaval. Instead, we found a sleepy town that was mostly shut down, as residents went to the coast or the mountains for the week. Festivities in Cuenca were limited to roaming kids with squirt guns or water balloons.

The city has been gradually adding new Carnaval events in the years since then. This year they declared they would have the first Carnaval parade, and that it would larger than any Cuenca parade other than the Christmas Eve Paseo de Nino parade. This parade was indeed large, lasting five hours from start to finish. Our favorite Carnaval parades are still in Ambato, where the quality of the floats and costumes are the quality of a mini Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena.

There were more floats in this parade than in most Cuenca parades. Some had dancers (lower-left), while others had people sitting or standing (upper-right), while waving at the crowd. Some people on the floats carried cans of foam, but all of them were on the receiving end of foam attacks (middle).

No parade in Cuenca is complete without marching bands, and there were plenty of those here, to provide background music for the dancers. Lots of organizations marched together as a group, always led by someone carrying a banner, announcing where they were from (top row plus lower-left).

There were a few in the parade who were decked out in elaborate costumes. One man had a costume made from hundreds of peacock feathers (left plus top-right).

The audience is an essential part of any parade, and many of them got into the full experience with their own costumes. They often had their own cans of “espuma,” the foam spray that is so popular during Carnaval in Ecuador.

If you decide to join the Carnaval festivities in Cuenca, be prepared to get foam or water on you… then grab your own can of espuma for $1 and join in the fray! 😊