Corpus Christi Celebration in Cuenca

Corpus Christi is the body of Christ and it is a week long celebration here in Cuenca. Sweet treats, parades, sweets, dancers, fireworks and oh, did I mention, sweets? Due to our busy schedule and recent recovery from colds, we opted out of visiting the huge crowds but many of our friends attended.

Check out one friend's blog - lots of photos! I think you will enjoy it!

Ciao for now!

New Year's Eve - Ecuadorian Style!

I'm not sure where to start - what a fantastic evening we had. As mentioned in our post, Busy Holiday Season!, we had our little frog effigy set to burn away our 2014 troubles and woes while sending out wishes for a good 2015. We had a pretty sunset to set the mood.

We watched from our window as the folks at Joe's Secret Garden set off their effigies, just down the street from us..

We finally headed downstairs about 10PM to light ours. Little did we know how LONG it can take for even a small effigy to burn...maybe would have been faster if we had several as we saw in later photos, all stacked up in a teepee type pile as the folks at Joe's did. But, burn him we did, on the sidewalk across from our building...here are a few photos of the process. We set him up against the wall but finally had to lay him down to get the fire going better. Yes, it does look a little creepy....LOL!

Burn complete, we each took our turn at jumping over the ashes (no way were we going to jump over the live fire). Okay, so we stepped over them...but we each did it the requisite three times!

Once the ashes were no longer a danger, we headed back to the apartment to get a couple of beers and go up to our rooftop terrace. The light show was starting although sporadic. We love the view from up there...day or night! There was a halo around the moon and already there was a haze of smoke settling over the city.

By quarter of twelve it was getting more regular. At midnight for a full 20 minutes we had fireworks in a full circle around us. About a dozen folks joined us and we all ooh-ed and aah-ed over the display. We have never seen anything like it anywhere! It was hard to get get photos because of the need to set my zoom and then focus, but I did get a few.

We also watched dozens of lantern bags (luminaries?) set off to fly away...a gorgeous sight.

Friends have shared photos and videos of the scene in El Centro, our downtown area. Chaotic sensory overload - lots of fires from the effigy burning, loud music and fireworks. Too much for these two old farts but we sure enjoyed our evening. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!

Busy Holiday Season!

It's been a busy couple of days since Christmas. Nothing spectacular but several walks into El Centro, both for the exercise and seeing the sights. Today was no exception. I had fun snagging a couple of photos from the bus...coming and going.

Angels waiting....

Funny costume, guy pretending to be an effigy (viejo)

Doing the Santa walk?

We had a leisurely walk to Don Colon's, passing many places selling effigies and masks. The flower market was gorgeous and quite busy, too.

After a delightful lunch (Stu had grilled chicken breast with rice and beans, I had a hamburger and fries - we both got soup, juice and a pudding/yogurt type desert for $4 each), we continued meandering around the city. It seems as though animals were center front today.

Only one of several we saw today. Most were along the Tomebamba river, probably headed for a small parade.

Who is walking WHO?

No, not the same dog! There were several in the park today.

We kept seeing kids in angel costumes and got a kick out of these colorful plastic trees in the park. There were lots of street vendors selling bright yellow 2015 glasses for celebrants. No, we didn't indulge.

Effigies were mounted on taxis, cars, buses, trucks and we even saw one in the entrance to a parking garage.

And a few general photos, just for fun!

Adorable little animals that danced

Sweet face!

Neighbor already setting his effigy on fire

So how will we celebrate New Year's Eve? We plan to take our little froggy effigy out to the street and burn it, bringing in good vibes for 2015. We bought him last year but never set him on fire.

After we clean up our mess, as best we can, we will bundle up (yes, it gets cool in the evenings) and head up to our rooftop terrace with a few beers and our cameras where we hope to get some photos of the fireworks across the city.

How about you?