Quito Dec. 31, 2018

On Dec. 30th we took Trenecuador on the Tren de los Volcanes.  It went south from Quito through the communities of Tambillo, Machachi to El Boliche, the recreation area of Cotopaxi (active volcano and because it was such a beautiful clear day we could see the steam emerging).  At El Boliche we went on a short hike but it was much longer than the 90 m posted on the sign.  I later realized that the 90 m was the increase in altitude not the length of the trail!  There’s a picture of me in front of a tree that is estimated to be 300 years old.  The scenery along the route was absolutely stunning.  We ate in a wonderful restaurant in Machachi where there was also a petting zoo.  The fellow (about 5′ tall) with the pet goose had been a pro wrestler at one time; had fought in Winnipeg and decided the Canadians were too big!  The goose was amazing, came when he called, danced to music, and raced!  We watched a game of Ecuavolley (a variation of volleyball) at Machachi, 3 on a side and very popular here.

New Year’s tradition-young men dress as women and stop cars in the street, dance provocatively and ask for money.  We saw several doing this, often with their girlfriends watching and helping with costumes!  All in good fun and drivers and pedestrians happily contributed a few coins.  Apparently this custom started with getting rid of the sadness from the past year, from when families would hire women to be mourners at funerals and it has morphed into what it is today.  They are called widows.  The other New Year’s custom is the burning of dolls, figures, representative of the negativity from the past year, so that the New Year is started fresh.  Not a bad idea!  There are several pictures of dolls, etc.  A lot of families get together and spend the day making the dolls and then burn them.  They are also available for sale as you can see from the photos.  The last picture is of our New Year’s cake that we bought at Cyrano’s (we can see it from our windows).  We had to wait in line to purchase and I can’t even estimate how many cakes they must have sold today.  Delicious!  Kim and I went for a short walk this evening.  Very quiet as everyone is at home celebrations.  However, there are still fires happening in the streets and fireworks going off as I write this.