This is a picture of Sharian and Bernardo. Bernardo invited us to his daughter's first communion, a serious event in Ecuadorian rites (Some churches won't even allow people to marry if they haven't had their Baptism, First Communion and their Confirmation). Shary looked absolutely beautiful that day in her white dress (which all the girls wore).
Following the First Communion, we were invited to Bernardo's father's house where he, his several brothers (and one sister), and their families enjoyed a nice BBQ (including more cuy!) and lots of wine and scotch. This is Bernardo proudly showing the BBQ'd cuy.
This is a little gift that all attendants to the communion receive from the family following the communion. I have heard that this tradition is dying out and will not likely survive one or two more generations.
Our Canadian friend Rhiannon invited us to join her on a tour of the Yachana chocolate factory (!!) in Quito -- they also have a lodge in the jungle, where they grow the chocolate and transport it to Quito for processing. The Yachana jungle chocolate is very unique as it does not melt in your hand (better than m&m's) and is formed in little nuggets that are called "nibs".
This is one the many beautiful views of the Pinchincha volcano from Quito.
As Quito is situated in a valley, many houses in the city abound along the sides of the mountains.
This is the very artsy Teatro National building in Quito, which houses the Museo del Banco, whereby you can view a myriad of Pre-Inca and Inca archeological artefacts and read (in English!) about the various historic tribes in Ecuador. It is one of the most beautiful (richly presented and rich in its contents!) museums that I have ever seen.
Here is another picture of the Teatro National building. You can see that the other side of the building has glass windows, a stark contrast to the purposely-laid gaping holes to its left.
This is a sculpture of a woman sitting "tranquilo" on the grass. Located right next to the Teatro National building, I found it lovely and calming.
Everyone wants to see the museum... including these two nuns! Actually, it is still odd seeing nuns around Quito from time to time, as you very rarely (if ever) see them in North American cities.
This is the Ecovia Trams... it takes you from one end of Quito to the other... very effectively, like an above ground subway, and very cheaply (only $0.25 per ride!).
KFCs are everywhere here! (And I have only found one McDonalds so far... not that I was looking for it!) The substancial presence of KFC and other chicken fast food establishment may come from the fact that chicken is less expensive than beef and pork (and cuy!).
The Vivarium in Quito is fun to visit and has a great collection of Ecuadorian snakes (as well as a few frogs and turtles).
CAYAMBE Fiesta. Pueblos hold fiestas to celebrate the birthday(?) of the saint that is associated with their town. This fiesta was celebrated in early July.
Several different kinds of costumes are adorned. In this picture (as well as the one before and the following one), you will see men playing the guitar, singing and wearing masks on their foreheads. These masks are made of a translucent mesh and are painted (as the face of mustached men). These masks are believed to keep the evil spirits away while the fiesta proceeds.
These men also wear hats with long colourful ribbons and mirrors. The mirrors are also believed to attract the sunshine and reflect evil spirits.
There were also several participants wearing clown masks with tall cone-shaped hats. While some of them played music, other had fun bugging the crowd by sticking little one foot long bags of seeds into peoples faces when they least expected it. That was quite amusing to watch.
Another musician playing the guitar and wearing a beautiful mask and costume.
To the right, another type of mask that is popular is animal masks (such as this wolf). And to the left, we saw many of these cloth masks... very colourful, funny string nose, and stringy hair. This mask really reminded me of executioner's mask (I still get chills looking at them). More on these guys later.
This mask is similar to the later, but with much more adornment. One interesting point, is that these masks have a face both on the front and the back of the head... as it is important to always face the sun. Some of these masks take as long as a year (and a lot of money for the indigenous folk) to make.
Corn and other portable farm products were displayed and even heralded as part of the celebration.
