Cotton candy, Abba and Elderly dancers: Fiestas de Quito!

Today, December 6th, marks the anniversary of the founding of Quito in 1534 by the Spanish conquistador, Sebastián de Benalcázar. It was interesting for me to see that while the country celebrates its independence from Spain every August, the city of Quito celebrates, with equal enthusiasm, the conquering of this city by the Spanish in the 1500s. 
We decided to stay in the city for this long weekend and check out the festivities - and I'm glad we did.
Some highlights:

• A 6-hour long parade along Shyris, one of the main avenues, featuring marching bands, Flamenco dancers, papier-mache giants and an endless number of merchants selling homemade ice-cream, potato chips, and cotton candy (on enormous poles, of course).

• A wooden cart race in the old city: young competitors qualify for this final race at two previous events, so this is a very big deal (the Mayor of Quito started the race). The Coches de Madera involved groups of four kids as young as five racing down a kilometre-long downhill course in the middle of the old city, on homemade wooden carts (which are strictly regulated for authenticity). Dan and I were petrified about the injuries we might see, but the parents we talked to seemed relatively nonchalent: "sure, its a bit dangerous, but they love it, and they whine and whine until we let them go!" I did notice that many of the younger competitors wore at least four layers of sweaters for extra padding. The races were actually much more tame than I thought, until the teenage race, which was another story altogether. The winner and the second-place racer both crashed into the crowd gathered at the finish line - no serious injuries, but a good lesson learned for the audience members for next year!

• Coming across a second parade, while walking around the old city. This parade was much smaller but no less vibrant - featuring a brass band and traditional dancers, most of whom looked to be over sixty years old. They were clearly having a ball, and their energy was infectious!

• Walking through La Ronda, a recently restored historical part of the old city, and wandering across a band playing the Abba song, Chiquitita. Since the door was open, we walked in to take some pictures. After chatting with the musicians, we discovered that the pianist is the son of one of the most famous musicians in Ecuador, Humberto Santacruz. He was also restoring a 180-year old piano, which we had a look at.  

What a great weekend! Now if I could just get some schoolwork done...