New Years in Cuenca, Ecuador

I am going to jump right into this. I arrived in Cuenca, Ecuador on the 30th of December, and my friends Wes and Myla met me there on the 31st. We celebrated the solar new year by burning a cardboard image of a famous political figure I am unfamiliar with. In the days before midnight of the 31st all over the streets of Cuenca (and apparently other Ecuadorian cities) people are setting up dummies with masks in front of their stores, homes, and mounted to their cars. As the clocks strike 12am, people are in the streets burning the effigies and setting off very loud fireworks. We set afire our own image as well. Before midnight there are many people out in the street, men and boys cross dressing and dancing in front of cars until they get a donation to allow the car passage in the street. We spent the night wandering around enjoying the festivities and merveling how this would never fly in the states. This was New Years



On another note, Cuenca is a beautiful city with old cobblestone streets, universities, very stylish shoes (I bought a pair of very pink, very high tops), great juice, and surrounded by green hills. We went hiking for a day in Cajas, a national park with running waterfalls and streams, majestic vistas, a random cloud forest and wet, muddy ground everywhere in the high altitud. It was wonderful and refreshing to be in the wilderness and breath the thin air. We hiked for 15km, over 9 miles and when we returned to the city I felt as if I had spent days away in the wild.



More to come later.