Feliz Año Nuevo!

January 5, 2010
Tuesday
Sayausi
Cloudy, 60

Feliz Año Nuevo and a Hug
(Check out the new link called "Volunteer Feature" located under the picture on the right-side of the screen! You may recognize the featured volunteers.)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! This holiday season has been packed with travel, parades, family and friends. My mom was here for two weeks (December 14-28) during which time we took over 2,000 photos! Therefore, we will be spreading the holiday joy over two installments: 1. Holiday Extravaganza and 2. Peruvian Adventures. Even though the Peru portion of my mom’s trip came before the holiday part we thought we would post all holiday related photos, videos, etc… before the holiday season is officially over. So, get ready for lots of costumes, cuy, candy, dancing, and of course, more parades! (and then, in a week or so, we will post the Peru portion of the visit)


December 23rd: School Christmas Party and Museo Banco Central de Cuenca
Our first day in Sayausi started off with a bang…or at least with a lot of Christmas carols. I was invited to be a Christmas carol judge for the annual Christmas party up in Bellavista.

At nine o’clock sharp the caroling began with me seated at the judge’s table and my mom and Mike in seats of honor (i.e. they were given chairs instead of having to sit on the cement bleachers with the kiddies). The competition was steep and it was only by one point that first grade beat out the sixth grade. It was then time to judge the nativity scenes that each grade had constructed in their respective classrooms.

I’ll give a little background into the nativity scenes so that later when I explain how they were judged it will make more sense. It is tradition for every family to have a baby Jesus doll that in the weeks leading up to Christmas is paraded from house to house within the family. For example, for one week it will be at your aunt’s house and then there will be a procession with music and flowers and food to get it to your grandfather’s house where it will spend a week before continuing the journey (those of you residing in Bayville should remember this from last year when we brought some of Ecuador home in the form of a ceramic baby Jesus and made you all parade him around). In preparation for the arrival of Baby Jesus each house constructs a nacimiento or nativity scene. The scene of course is incomplete: all figures are facing towards an empty space which is reserved for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Historically, these nativity scenes (which every household makes during advent) were made from local mosses, bromeliads, and orchids. Not surprisingly, this was less than good for the surrounding forests. Therefore, in the last five or so years there has been a push to use recycled materials or anything reusable and environmentally friendly so as to maintain both the tradition of the nativity scenes and the natural environment. So, now people get really creative and make beautiful nativity scenes using old newspapers, potted plants, fallen branches, etc…

Back to the school…the nativity scenes were judged based on two categories: creativity and use of recycled materials. Again the competition was steep but it was again the first graders with their corn cob three kings and gourd stable that took home first prize.

It was then on to the sack races and other general festivities. The ice cream was served early as the electricity was cut at ten o’clock (there have been daily power cuts across the country for the last three months due to the year long drought) which worked out well for us! We each got giant scoops of homemade coconut ice cream. We were then given at least five small panes de pascua (Christmas bread, aka panetone) before we left.

We spent the afternoon in Cuenca and even checked out some of the Incan ruins near Cuenca’s biggest museo, Banco Central. However, after our Peruvian adventure it was clear that the Incan Empire didn’t quite have as strong a hold on Ecuador as it did in Peru. The museum was fun though and we only set off the alarm three times as we walked around (there was a small motion detector that would go off if you stepped too close to any of the exhibits). We ate lunch at Moliendo Café (the only place Mike and I eat at in Cuenca: cheap, good, and owned by a really sweet Colombian couple). My mom agreed the food was delicious including the bunuelo (cheese flavored doughnut). Then we toured the markets, both food and craft, before heading back to Sayausi where we dined on coal roasted chicken at David’s (Mike’s teammate’s restaurant).



December 24th: Parades Galore
The entirety of Christmas Eve or Nochebuena was spent either watching or participating in parades. These parades feature kids dressed up as religious figures, gypsies, traditional dress, or as superheroes and they go on for hours! We went into the center of Cuenca to check out the largest parade and had a nice spot right on the central park. For several hours we watched countless horses, cars, kids, babies, dogs, sheep, and everything else parade by decked out in everything from the most extravagant costume to the most basic. Sun baked (again, we still haven’t gotten any rain) we went for lunch at a tourist friendly restaurant that specializes in Ecuadorian fare and overlooked the parade in the central park. Needless to say between the location, the company, and the food lunch was delightful.

Then we headed back up to Sayausi to participate in a different parade. At this point the Christmas spirit had really gotten into me and I agreed (after several weeks of being persuaded by our neighbors) to get dressed up with a few other women from my town. What did we dress up as? Cholitas Cuencanas of course! A neighbor gave me a pollera, blusa, and chalina, Jenny (our landlady’s daughter) braided my hair, and poof I was ready. My mom and Mike were not poofed into anything but they did walk in the parade being sure to catch any particularly photo worthy moments. However, since I was the only one in costume I was the only one to receive the bag of candy, pan de pascua (panetone), and banana (which everyone in the parade who was dressed up got).

The parade started up at Dona Rita’s house (the same house where we would be the next night for my mom’s first ever cuy roast) and winded through town where it eventually ended up in the church for a Christmas evening mass.

After mass it was back home and time for sleep…well, we may have had a few candies first!




We also tried out the envios service here in Sayausi over the holidays. Turns out it works! We (with the help of Doña Carmen and family and the Rusts) sent a cuy to the states (sorry AZ family but they don´t deliver to the Southwest) for Christmas Eve.



December 25th: Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas to All! Christmas morning of course started with stockings (Chuspi enjoyed the stocking itself as much as the contents) and then it was breakfast, presents, and then, you guessed it, on to more parades!

This time we were just observers and photographers. The parade started in San Martin (a barrio of Sayausi) and ended up in the plaza right outside our front door, which is where all parades seem to end. Once the parade reached the plaza there was an outdoor mass followed by dancing, music, and more dancing.

Then it was off to Bellavista for cuy, more dancing, cake making (aside from the baby Jesus it was also Juan Diego’s birthday too), and general merrymaking. We were up at Dona Rita’s house from two o’clock until ten o’clock during which time my mom and Juan Diego helped each other with English/Spanish, we supervised while Juan Diego made and decorated his own birthday cake, played frisbee (my mom’s birthday present to Juan Diego which was wildly popular), chatted, ecua-danced, ate, chatted some more, bathed baby Matias (Melida’s month old baby), dressed up baby Matias (my mom also brought down a few jumpers for Matias…also wildly popular), ate cuy (yup, that’s right my mom chowed down on cuy and liked it…at least a little bit), and ecua-danced some more before eating birthday cake.

After the festivities we walked home along the river (which also happens to be the road) listening to the sounds of frogs. A very nice Navidad indeed.

Opening Stockings


Sayausi Parade


Christmas Mass


Christmas Dancing


Christmas Kids


Christmas Dinner



December 26th: Ver Deporte
Saturday was a day to recoup after over a week and a half of nonstop travel and activity. So, in classic Sayausi style we spent most of the day down by the estadio watching countless soccer games and chatting with our neighbors and friends.


December 27th: Hacer Deporte
Sunday was a lot like Saturday except Mike and I were playing in all the games. The first game of the day was futbol in the estadio de Sayausi at 10:30am. The second game was basketball (me) at 11:30am, then Mike played basketball at 12:30pm which we weren’t able to stay and see because I had another game at 1:00pm in San Jose (another barrio of Sayausi that is further away and where we don’t really know many people). So my mom and I zipped off in a cab with Maira to go my one o’clock game while Mike stayed to play three-on-three with his basketball team as the team they were supposed to play against didn’t show up.

My game in San Jose was called short after a fight broke out in the second half. Yup, after two years of playing in countless games here in town this was the very first fight and my Mom was there to see it! Long story short we were winning and the other team was upset because up until then they had been undefeated and BAM, fighting. No one was hurt and only one girl on my team was involved. It was essentially five girls from the other team pulling the hair of one girl on my team. Either way the game was called, and we aren’t going to play at that field anymore (voluntary decision on our part as the organizers weren’t going to kick anyone out so my team just decided we didn’t want to play in a tournament where teams fight). Then we were delayed at the field for an hour as a giant storm rolled in and dumped buckets of water and hail. Fortunately, there was a small covered area where everyone could huddle until the rain passed and the cab came and picked us up.

By the time we got back to the apartment it was almost 3:30pm and our van back to Guayaquil was leaving at 4:00pm. Having been in Ecuador for almost two years we decided that was plenty of time to shower, go grab lunch(slow roasted pork and potato pancakes) and bring it back, eat it, clean up, and then get a cab to the van office.

We pulled into the van office at 4:06pm (the van service said they could wait to 4:05pm at the latest) to see the van waiting for us. And so we made our grand exit from Sayausi, up the hill, through Cajas, over the continental divide at 14,000ft, back down the hill, through the clouds, across the rice paddies and banana plantations, and into Guayaquil.


December 28th: Se Va
My mom’s flight left at 10:30am the morning of the 28th which gave us plenty of time to have a nice breakfast at the hostel and reflect most positively on a wonderful trip.

After my mom went through the door to customs Mike and I headed back up the hill, and four hours later were in Sayausi where upon arrival we took a long nap.

In the next post all Peruvian related photos and stories will be shared. A few highlights include white water rafting with my mom in the Urubamba Valley, eating roasted alpaca on several different occasions, watching the mist pass through the ruins at Machu Picchu, and alien sightings among the snow capped mountains near Chincheros!


Año Viejo (Old Year)
For New Year’s Eve, and for several days leading up to it, Cuenca, Sayausi, and Ecuador are covered with life size dolls dressed in old clothes, stuffed with newspaper, and donning a mask (be it a Barney, Michael Jackson, famous politicians, or a generic old man face). These dolls called Año Viejos in Sayausi are tethered to the fronts of cars and busses, seated outside shops, and hanging from window ledges until the clock strikes twelve….more on that later.


Not surprisingly New Year’s Eve brought with it many more parades, the Año Viejos (the dolls described above), and viudas (widows). At this point you should have a pretty good idea about what a holiday parade in Ecuador would look like so I won’t go into details. The Año Viejos I have described above and the pictures below should complete the picture, literally. However, the viudas or widows are new. On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve the streets become crowded with young men dressed up as women begging (more like jokingly asking) for change. These groups (they tend to travel in groups of three to five) often set up camp on a street and string a rope up to stop passing traffic. Once the car has stopped the driver and passengers are asked to give some change to the viudas. This interaction generally involves a lot of laughter on both sides and occasionally ends up with extra change in the purses of the viudas.

You may ask, as we did, why? Why do young men dress up as women, call themselves viudas (widows), and ask the occasional passersby for change? Good question. If you find out let us know because no one in our town had the faintest idea as to why people do it, they just do. As for the Año Viejos we did get a little bit more information on them, but nothing too definitive. To some it represents the good of the past year, to others the bad. Some create a doll that has the likeness of a person they respect while others chose to dress their doll as someone they despise. There are dolls that look like cartoon characters (Sponge Bob is popular). What binds them all though is their common fate (see below).




To start of the New Year’s Eve festivities there was an Ecua-volley game and a women’s indoor game (soccer on a small field with a small ball). I was asked to play in the game as at this point I am friends with all the soccer moms (unlike in the states, soccer mom here quite literally means the moms that play soccer) and their daughters. So, myself, Maira, Leo (Maira’s sister), the Carbo sisters (daughters of the President of the Parroquia of Sayausi), and Diana (a good friend of the Carbo sisters) played a game against Nacha (wife of David, Mike’s basketball teammate), Jota (Nachas sister), and several other Nacha relatives. The game was tied at the end of standard play and went into extra time (two five minute halves). After a stunning goal by myself and another by Majo (one of the Carbo sisters) our team became the winners and as such the proud owners of a crockpot. Yup, a crockpot. Upon seeing the crockpot everyone on my team asked, “What’s that?” The crockpot has since been sitting in our living room, still in its box, since it is unheard of to cook with electricity due to cost (and the ongoing nationwide daily power outages due to drought).

After the thrilling sports events many people went to the church for mass while others went home for dinner, but all came back shortly after for the “chancho encevado”. What, may you ask, is a chancho encevado? Well, think to yourself what is the most appropriate thing to do after a New Years Eve mass? Well, if you answered “to chase around a greased pig in the plaza”, then you are well attuned to Ecuadorian culture. After the chancho encevado was captured everyone under age twelve lined up for the “ollas encantadas” a.k.a the enchanted pots.

The ollas encantadas are the Ecuadorian equivalent of pinatas except that every kid gets their own and even though you’re technically only allowed three hits you get to hit until to smash an enchanted pot and all the goodies fall out. It looks like this: a long line of kids waiting for their turn, a string twenty yards long from which twenty cantalope sized ceramic pots are hanging, two adults directing the children, and a crowd of onlookers. Inside each of the enchanted pots are a doll, a bag of candy, and an orange. And I’m pretty sure I figured out what makes the pots enchanted. Whenever the last pot is broken but there is still a line of kids, after a five minute break twenty new pots are dangling from the string…pretty magical huh?

Following the ollas encantadas the race to the top of the “palo encevado” began. This race did not end until well after midnight and was really a sort of endlessly entertaining sideshow while the rest of the festivities continued. Can you guess what a palo encevado might be? How about a thirty foot high greased eucalyptus trunk with soda, chips, soccer balls, and clothes dangling from the top? Yup, a greased stick with at most ten dollars of prizes tied to the top and a pack of anxious teenage boys at the bottom. Now that’s good fun.

In the hours leading up to midnight we were treated to several singing performances and the announcement of whom Sayausi’s Año Viejo was supposed to resemble. Turns out our vecino (neighbor) was the lucky guy, and as is custom a mock will was read in which he had a chance to say something funny about all of his family members, neighbors, and friends.

So, now the clock is striking midnight. What do you think happens to all those Año Viejos that spent the day tied to a car, sitting in front of a store, or hanging out a window? A giant bonfire greets them at the tolling of the New Year. Every man, woman, and child tosses their “Old Year” into the fire then proceeds to give everyone a hug while wishing a Feliz Año to one and all. The hugging then continues for several days (or weeks) as you must say Happy New Year and give a hug to everyone you know even though it might be awhile before you bump into them.


Chancho Encevado

Ollas Encantadas

Well, that sums up our holiday season here in Ecuador. Lots of parades, a wonderful time spent with my mom, plenty of good food, and to send the old year off in style a greasy pig and a giant fire.

Happy New Year (and a hug)! May it bring you health, happiness, and maybe if you’re lucky, a roasted guinea pig and an effigy made in your likeness!