We joined Esteban Arevalo today, with 20 others, for a visit to Saraguro and their Kapak Raymi (December solstice) festival celebration. Saraguro is a tiny town of only 9000 residents, about a two hour’s drive outside Cuenca, and known for their traditions. We were told we would be seeing a parade in Saraguro, and have […]
Festival de artesanías de América 2017
November 3 is Cuenca Independence Day. Ecuadorians love to celebrate, and this 197th anniversary of independence from Spain was a chance for a 4-day holiday weekend. The city puts out a booklet listing scheduled events through the end of November that was 66 pages long, and copies ran out in the first 2 days. There is no […]
Fantasy Circus from Moscow
Every year during the Cuenca Independence Day celebrations, the Moscow Circus comes to town. The image above was on the screen during part of the performance. The first poster I saw in town had some other posters plastered over the top of it, and all I saw was the image of Elsa (from Frozen) and […]
Symphony in the Park
Ecuadorians love to celebrate and have parties. There is some festival going on in Cuenca pretty much every month. Whereas the US celebrates Independence one day per year on 4th of July, Cuenca makes a four day festival of its independence from Spain every year. This year is the 197th anniversary of that independence. There […]
Portugal 4 – Feira Medieval de Penedono
We are staying in the Douro Valley today, and our host told us that there is an annual festival this weekend in Penedono, a nearby town with a castle. We decided to check it out. In Northern California, we have the Renaissance Fair every summer. This is very much like that, but only lasts the first […]
Gualaceo Carnaval 2017
Vendors were selling food, cans of foam, and hats (including umbrella hats) Carnaval has traditionally been celebrated in various towns outside of Cuenca, so we decided to check out the Sunday parade in Gualaceo, about 45 minutes away. The parade was much larger than Cuenca’s, with some elaborate floats, performances by dance groups. There were […]
Cuenca Carnaval – Orquídea Parade 2017
Orquídea Cuenca 2017 was dominated by dancing and foam (from Burt Johnson on Vimeo). During our first Cuenca Carnaval in 2012, the city was practically deserted. In those days, Carnaval in Cuenca consisted solely of roving kids with squirt guns and occasional buckets of water from balconies overhead in El Centro. More events have been […]
Cuenca Carnaval–Foam Attack!
In recent years, Cuenca has celebrated Godparent’s Day with a foam party in Parque Calderon, in the center of town. Cans of foam (“espuma”) come out at 5:00, and the entire park becomes a slip-and-slide zone within minutes. In past years, we walked over to the parque later in the evening, when teenagers were in […]
Day of the Innocents Masquerade Parade 2017
Every January 6, Cuenca celebrates the Day of the Innocents with a parade that combines satire, political and social commentary. It is variously called the Fools Parade, Inocentes Parade, or Masquerades Parade. This was originally a religious event commemorating King Herod’s death sentence for all new-born boys after the birth of Christ, though Cuenca’s version […]
Subdued New Year’s Eve in Cuenca
As usual, politicians were mocked throughout the large neighborhood dioramas. Clinton, Obama and Trump were all represented from the States, plus an assortment of Ecuadorian political figures. This was our fifth New Year’s Eve in Ecuador. Except for 2015 in Salinas, we have spent each of them in Cuenca. Our first was at the end […]
